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See page 30 . 


Heidi stroked first one and then the other ofi the two goats. 




By JOHANNAS 

Translated by 

HFI FMF 


NEW YORK 

THOMAS Y CROWELL C9 

PUBLISHERS 






Copyright, 1902 and 1913, by 
THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I On the Way to the Alm-Uncle .... 1 

II With the Grandfather . . . i.. ^ . 21 

III The Goat Pasture 33 

IV With the Grandmother 55 

V Two Visits and What Came of Them . . 78 

VI A New Chapter and New Scenes ... 96 

VII The Housekeeper Has a Day of Vexation . 109 
VIII Klara’s Home is Dull no Longer . . . .133 

IX The Master of the House Hears Strange 

Tales 

X A Grandmamma 1^0 

XI Heidi Both Gains and Loses 176 

XII A Ghost in the Sesemann House . . . .185 

XIII Up the Alm on a Summer Evening . . . 204 

XIV On Sunday when Church Bells Ring . . 232 

XV Preparations for a Journey 255 

XVI A Guest on the Alm 267 

XVII A Recompense 283 

XVIII A Winter in Dorfli 299 

XIX The Winter Continues 318 

XX Distant Friends are Heard From . . . 331 

XXI Further Events on the Alm 359 

XXII The Unexpected Happens 374 

XXIII A Farewell, but to Meet Again .... 398 





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ILLUSTRATIONS 


Heidi stroked first one and then the other of the two goats Frontispiece 

„ . OPPOSITE PAGE 

Heidi took her bowl and drank and drank 28 

She wished for nothing better than to stay where she was forever 40^ 

“You shall not strike him; it will hurt him!” 48 

Heidi felt as though she were flying through the air like a bird 62 / 

“Oh, the dear little things!” 126 v 

“Stop! Stop at once!” 136 ✓ 

A white figure standing motionless on the threshold 198 

Before the Alm-Uncle knew what it was, the child was at his side 226 ’/ 

“See what the grandmother is going to have with her coffee” 278 

“When my eyes grow dim and fail me” 316 

“Grandfather, come over here ! Look! Look!” 344^ 

The goats pushed forward one after the other 336 

Heidi was almost beside herself with joy 388 

He stood still and stared at the approaching children 410 



CHAPTER I 


ON THE WAY TO THE ALM-UNCLE 

F rom the pleasantly situated old town of 
Mayenfeld a footpath leads through green 
fields, thickly studded with trees, to the 
foot of the mountains which rise abruptly here, 
and gaze down in calm majesty on the valley 
below. After the path begins to ascend, it soon 
reaches the heath country where the spicy fragrance 
of mountain shrubbery greets the wayfarer, for 
now the ascent is direct and steep to the Alps above. 

One bright and sunny morning in June, a young 
woman, evidently a sturdy daughter of this high- 
land region, was toiling up this narrow mountain 
path, leading a little girl by the hand. The child’s 
face was crimson with a glow which even the dark 
coat of tan on her cheek could not hide. And no 
wonder; for despite the heat of a summer sun the 
little one was bundled up as if for the sharpest 
winter weather. She could not be more than five 
years old, although the real child was hardly to be 
discerned in the shapeless little figure that toiled 
wearily along under the weight of two, yes, even 
three dresses worn one over the other, while a red 
cotton kerchief was wrapped round and round the 


2 


HEIDI 


little body, and the feet were thrust into a pair of 
heavy hob-nailed shoes. 

An hour’s climb brought the two travellers to the 
hamlet lying halfway up to the Alm,^ and known 
as “the Dorfli” ^ where they were hailed from every 
side — here, from an open window, yonder, from a 
doorway, or by the people in the street; for this 
was the young woman’s native place. She did not 
stop, however, but answered all questions and greet- 
ings as she hurried along, until she reached the last 
of the straggling houses at the end of the village; 
here a voice called out through the open door : — 

“Wait a moment, Dete; I will go with you if you 
are going up the mountain.” 

The young woman stood still. Quickly freeing 
her hand from her companion’s, the child sat down 
on the grass. 

“Are you tired, Heidi?” asked Dete. 

“No,” was the reply, “I am hot.” 

“We are almost there now,” said Dete encourag- 
ingly. “If you will be brave a little longer and 
take long steps, we shall get there in an hour.” 

A stout, good-natured looking woman now came 
out of the house and joined the two. The child 
jumped to her feet, and, falling a few paces be- 

1 Pasture land in the Alps where, owing to the great altitude, or 
inaccessible location, neither people nor cattle can remain during the 
winter. 

2 Little village. 


ON THE WAY TO THE ALM-UNCLE 3 


hind, followed the two friends, who were soon 
deeply engaged in discussing the affairs of all the 
people in Dorfli and the country round about. 

“But where do you intend to take the child, 
Dete?” asked the newcomer. “She is your dead 
sister’s child, isn’t she?” 

“Yes, she is Adelheid’s little girl, and I am tak- 
ing her to her grandfather, to leave her with him.” 

“What! the child is to stay with the Aim- 
Uncle? You must be a little daft, Dete! How 
can you think of such a thing? But the old man 
will send you both off fast enough, and so put an 
end to your plans.” 

“He can’t do that; he is the child’s grandfather, 
and must take care of her. I have provided for 
her until now, and you may be sure, Barbel, that 
I shall not let the child stand between me and a 
place such as I have in view. He must do his part 
now.” 

“To be sure, if he were like other folks,” replied 
Barbel earnestly. “But you know the kind of man 
he is. What can he do with a child? And such a 
little one, at that? She’ll run away from him, 
Dete. But where do you expect to go?” 

“To Frankfort,” replied Dete. “I have the 
promise of a very good place there. The people 
who want me were at the Baths last summer, and 
I took care of their rooms. It was last summer 


4 


HEIDI 


that they first asked me to go with them; but I 
couldn’t get away then. Now they are here again, 
and want me, and I do not mean to lose the place 
this time, you may be sure.” 

“I wouldn’t like to be in the child’s place,” cried 
Barbel with a gesture of aversion. “Who knows 
what ails the old man up there! He never has 
anything to do with a living soul. All the year 
round he never sets foot in a church; and when 
once in a great while he does come down into the 
village with his big stick, everyone is afraid of him 
and gets out of his way. And no wonder; for with 
his bushy, gray eyebrows and horrid, long beard, 
he looks like an old heathen, and we are all glad 
enough not to be alone when we meet him.” 

“Nevertheless he is the child’s grandfather,” 
replied Dete stubbornly, “and must take care of 
her. He’ll do her no harm ; and if he does, he will 
have to answer for it, and not I.” 

“I’d like very much to know what the old man 
has on his conscience,” said Barbel insinuatingly. 
“It must be something evil that makes him look so 
fierce, and keeps him up there on the Aim with 
never a soul to speak to. People say all manner 
of things about him. Your sister probably told 
you about it, Dete; didn’t she?” 

“Yes, she did; but I never talk about it. Should 
he hear that I did, he’d make me suffer for it.” 


ON THE WAY TO THE ALM-UNCLE 5 


But Barbel had long wanted to learn more about 
the Alm-Uncle — why he looked so fierce and lived 
all alone up on the mountain; why no one could be 
induced to talk about him, as though afraid to be 
against him, and yet unwilling to be for him. Nor 
did Barbel know why the old man was called the 
Alm-Uncle by all the village people; he surely 
could not be uncle to them all. But since every 
one called him “Ohi,” which in the dialect of the 
neighborhood means uncle, she did likewise, and 
always spoke of him as “the Ohi.” 

It was only lately that Barbel had. come, as a 
bride, to Dorfli; before that, she had lived down in 
the Prattigau valley; and so she was not yet 
familiar with all that had happened in the vil- 
lage in years past, nor with the affairs of all the 
people who lived there, or in the surrounding 
country. 

Her good friend Dete, on the contrary, was horn 
in Dorfli, and had lived there until a year ago, 
when her mother died; after that she went as cham- 
bermaid to a large hotel in Ragaz, a summer resort 
near by. It was from there that she and the child 
had come this morning, one of Dete’s friends hav- 
ing carried them as far as Mayenfeld in a hay- 
wagon which he was driving home. 

Barbel was determined not to let so good an op- 
portunity as this pass without learning what she 


HEIDI 


wanted so much to know. Slipping her arm 
through Dete’s, she said coaxingly: — 

“You are the very one from whom to learn what 
is the truth and what has been added to it by the 
gossips. You, no doubt, know the whole story. 
Do tell me what is the matter with the old man, 
and whether he was always so cross and so avoided 
by everyone.” 

“Whether he was always so is more than I can 
tell you, as I am just twenty-six, and he must 
surely be seventy years old; so you can hardly ex- 
pect me to have known him in his youth; now can 
you. Barbel? But if I were sure that it would not 
become the talk of all Prattigau, there is many a 
thing that I could tell you about him. My mother 
came from Domleschg, and so did he.” 

“Oh pshaw, Dete! What do you think of me? 
Our gossip in Prattigau is not as bad as it is 
painted,” was Barbel’s rather indignant reply. 
“And, besides, I can keep a thing or two to myself 
when necessary. Now do tell me,” she added coax- 
ingly, “and you’ll have no reason to regret it.” 

“Well then, I will; but you must keep your 
promise,” said Dete warningly. Before begin- 
ning, she glanced back to make sure that the child 
was not near enough to hear what she said. But 
the little one was not to be seen ; she had evidently 
fallen behind some time ago and had then ceased 


ON THE WAY TO THE ALM-UNCLE 7 


to follow the two friends who had been too much 
absorbed in their conversation to notice it. Dete 
stood still and looked in every direction. The 
path made a number of turns, but nevertheless was 
visible almost all the way down to Dorfli; but no 
one was anywhere to be seen on it. 

“There she is. Do you see her yonder?” ex- 
claimed Barbel, pointing to a spot far to one side 
of the path. “She is climbing up the cliffs with 
Goat-Peter and his flock. I wonder why he is 
taking his goats up so late to-day! But it is very 
fortunate, for now he can take care of the child, 
and you can go on with your story.” 

“The ‘taking care of’ Peter will not find a very 
great task,” remarked Dete; “for she is far from 
stupid for a child of five. She keeps her eyes open 
and sees what is going on about her. I have 
found that out, and it is well for her that she does; 
for the old man has nothing now but his two goats 
and his hut.” 

“Did he ever have more?” asked the curious 
Barbel. 

“What, he? Well, I should think so!” ex- 
claimed Dete. “He once owned the finest farm in 
Domleschg. He was the elder of two sons, his 
brother being a quiet and industrious young man. 
But the older one would do nothing but play the 
gentleman, travel about the country, and seek the 


8 


HEIDI 


company of wild young people of whom no one 
knew anything. With his gambling and drink- 
ing, he lost all the family property, and when his 
father and mother learned of it, they died of grief, 
one after the other. His brother, when he found 
himself a beggar, left his home and went out into 
the world, no one knows where. When the older 
one saw that he had nothing left but a bad name, 
he disappeared too. At first no one knew whither ; 
then it was rumored he had enlisted as a soldier 
in Naples; after that nothing was heard of him for 
fully twelve or fifteen years. Then, all at once, 
he appeared again in Domleschg, bringing with 
him a half -grown boy for whom he wanted to find 
a home among his relatives. But every door was 
closed against him, and no one would have any- 
thing to do with him. This made him very bitter, 
and he declared he would never set foot in 
Domleschg again; and so he came here with his boy 
and lived in Dorfli. His wife, whom he married 
in the south, and lost soon afterward, was prob- 
ably one of the same kind as himself. He must 
have had a little money left, however, for he had 
his son Tobias taught a trade, that of carpenter. 
The boy grew up to be a quiet, well-behaved fel- 
low whom everybody liked. But no one trusted 
the old man. It was said that he had deserted 
from the army in Naples because he had killed a 


ON THE WAY TO THE ALM-UNCLE 9 


man; not in battle, you know, but in a quarrel. 
But we recognize the relationship ; for my mother’s 
grandmother and his grandmother were first 
cousins. So we called him ‘Uncle,’ and as nearly 
all of the people of the village are relations of ours 
on my father’s side, they all called him Uncle too; 
then, when he went up to the Aim to live, they 
called him the ‘Aim-Uncle.’ ” 

“And what became of Tobias?” asked Barbel 
eagerly. 

“Wait a bit, and you will hear; I can’t tell you 
everything in a breath!” declared Dete. “Well, 
Tobias was sent to Mels to learn his trade, and as 
soon as he had learned it he came back here to 
Dorfii, and soon afterward married my sister Adel- 
heid. They had always been fond of each other, 
and after they were married they lived very happily 
together. But it did not last long. Only two 
years later, Tobias was killed by a falling beam 
while he was at work on a new house. The shock 
of seeing him so disfigured, together with the grief 
at his loss, threw Adelheid into a violent fever from 
which she did not recover. She was never very 
strong, and sometimes had strange attacks, when 
we could not tell whether she was awake or asleep. 
Only a few weeks after Tobias died, we buried her 
too. Then the sad fate of the young couple be- 
came the talk of the neighborhood, and it began 


10 


HEIDI 


to be whispered that it was a terrible retribution 
for the sinful life the Uncle had led; he was even 
told so to his face. Our good pastor talked to him, 
too, and urged him to repent ; but it was to no pur- 
pose; he only grew more fierce and sullen, spoke to 
no person, and was avoided by everyone. 

“Soon afterward we heard that he had gone up 
to the Aim, and only came down when obliged to; 
since then, he has lived all alone up there, at en- 
mity with God and man. 

“ Adelheid’s baby we took, mother and I ; it was 
only a year old. Last summer, when mother died, 
I sent the child to board with old Ursel up in 
PfafFersdorf ; for I wanted to earn something 
down at the Baths. As I can sew and mend, I 
found plenty of work there in the winter, too. 
Early in the spring the Frankfort family whose 
rooms I had cared for at the hotel, returned, and 
now they want me to go home with them. Day 
after to-morrow we leave. It is a good place, that 
I know.” 

“And you really mean to leave the child with 
the old man up yonder? I am surprised that you 
can do such a thing, Dete,” said Barbel reproach- 
fully. 

“What do you expect me to do?” retorted Dete. 
“I have done my duty by the child. What else 
can I do with her? I surely cannot take a child 


ON THE WAY TO THE ALM-UNCLE 11 


not yet five years old to Frankfort with me. But 
where are you going, Barbel? We are nearly half 
way up to the Aim now.” 

“And I have just got to where I am bound. 
Goat-Peter’s mother dqes spinning for me in the 
winter, and I wanted to speak to her about it. So 
good-bye Dete; good luck to you!” 

Dete shook hands with her companion, and then 
stood looking after her as she went into the little 
dark-brown mountain cottage which stood a little 
to one side of the path in a hollow, where it was 
somewhat protected from the mountain winds. 
The tiny house lay about halfway between Dorfli 
and the Aim above; and it was well that it stood 
in so sheltered a spot, for it looked so crazy and 
dilapidated that to live in it must have seemed 
rather perilous when the mighty south wind swept 
the mountain. Then every board in the old house 
shook, the doors and windows rattled, and the 
worm-eaten timbers groaned and trembled. On 
such days, had the little house stood up on the 
Aim, it would have been swept at a blast into the 
valley below. 

It was Goat-Peter’s home. He was a boy of 
eleven, who daily went down to Dorfli to get the 
goats and drive them up to the Aim, where they 
grazed on the short and nourishing herbs until 
evening. Then he and all his nimble-footed 


12 


HEIDI 


/ 


charges went skipping down the mountain side, 
and as soon as they reached Dorfli, Peter gave a 
shrill whistle through his fingers to announce their 
arrival at the village square, where the goats were 
turned over to their owners. Most of those who 
came for them were little boys and girls, for the 
goats were harmless creatures whom no one had 
cause to fear. During the whole summer long, 
this was the only occasion on which Peter met com- 
panions of his own kind; all the rest of the day he 
spent with his goats. 

To be sure, at home he had his mother and 
blind old grandmother; but since he had to be off 
very early in the morning, and in the evening 
lingered as long as possible with the children in 
Dorfli, he was at home only long enough to swal- 
low his breakfast of bread and milk in the morning, 
and a supper of like kind in the evening, and then 
hurry to bed. 

His father, who had been accidentally killed 
while felling trees, had been called Goat-Peter be- 
fore him, for in his youth he, too, had been the 
goatherd. Owing to this combination of circum- 
stances, Peter’s mother, whose real name was 
Brigitte, was called Mistress Goat-Peter, and the 
blind old grandmother was known far and wide, 
by both old and young, simply as “grandmother.” 

Dete waited about ten minutes for the children 


ON THE WAY TO THE ALM-UNCLE 13 


to come along with the goats. After looking all 
round without seeing anything of them, she climbed 
a little higher to where she could get a view of the 
whole mountain slope. From this eminence she 
peered in every direction with strong signs of im- 
patience both in her face and motions. 

Meanwhile the children were approaching by a 
very roundabout way, for Peter knew of many a 
sheltered nook where his goats could get an abun- 
dance of nourishing leaves to nibble from bush 
and shrub ; to find them, he drove his flock by most 
devious ways to the pastures above. 

At first the child, clad in her dress of many 
thicknesses, followed him with great difficulty, 
panting with heat and fatigue. She did not say a 
word, but her eyes followed the boy’s every move- 
ment as, in his short trousers and bare feet, he 
sprang lightly from place to place ; then she looked 
at the goats whose slender little legs carried them 
even more easily over bush and boulder, and up the 
steepest cliffs. Suddenly she sat down and 
quickly took off* her shoes and stockings; then, 
getting on her feet again, she pulled off* the thick 
red kerchief, unbuttoned her little dress, and was 
soon rid of that. But there was still another to 
be taken off*, for Aunt Dete had prudently put the 
Sunday dress on the little girl first, and then the 
one she wore every day over it, so that she herself 


14 


HEIDI 


might have a smaller bundle to carry. In a 
twinkling the last dress was off too, and the child 
stood there in her little petticoat, holding up her 
chubby arms with delight to he cooled by the 
breeze, for now they were bare save for the short 
sleeve of her chemise. 

Laying all the discarded garments carefully one 
upon the other, she joined Peter and his goats, 
and, free from every hindrance, skipped and 
scrambled along as lightly as the fleetest of her 
companions. 

Peter had not noticed what the child was about 
when she remained behind, and now, as all at once 
he saw her come running along in her new costume, 
he drew his face into a broad grin of amusement; 
and when he glanced back and saw the neat little 
heap of clothes on the ground, his smile widened 
until his mouth reached nearly from ear to ear; 
but he did not say a word. 

With the child’s newly gained feeling of ease and 
comfort came the desire to talk to Peter, and he, 
too, found his tongue to answer the many questions 
she had to ask. She wanted to know how many 
goats he had, where he was taking them, and what 
he would do when he got there. 

Thus the children arrived at last in front of the 
little house, where Dete espied them. Hardly had 
she caught sight of the merrily approaching little 
company when she cried out with horror:— 


ON THE WAY TO THE ALM-UNCLE 15 


“Heidi, what have you done? What does this 
mean? Where is your best frock, and the other 
one, and the red kerchief? And where are the new 
shoes I bought for you to wear up on the moun- 
tain? And the stockings I knit for you? They 
are all gone! All gone! Heidi, what have you 
done with them? Where are they all?” 

Pointing calmly down the mountain, the child 
said: “There.” 

Her aunt followed the direction of the chubby 
finger, and there, far below, she saw a little heap 
of something with a red speck on top; that must 
surely be the red kerchief. 

“Oh, you naughty child!” cried the indignant 
Dete. “What possessed you? Why did you take 
off your things? What does it mean?” 

“I don’t need them,” said the child without the 
least sign of regret for what she had done. 

“Oh you child of calamity! You foolish Heidi! 
Don’t you know anything?” continued Dete, 
lamenting and scolding by turns. “How are we 
to get them? It will take a half hour to go down 
there and back again. Come, Peter; you run 
down and fetch the things. Come, run along, and 
don’t stand there staring at me as though you had 
taken root.” 

“I am late already,” said Peter slowly and with- 
out stirring a foot from the place where he had 


16 


HEIDI 


stood with his hands thrust into his breeches pockets 
listening to Dete’s exclamations of anger and 
dismay. 

“You’ll not get far by standing there and open- 
ing your eyes as big as saucers,” cried Aunt Dete. 
“Come, you shall have something nice. Do you 
see this?” 

She held up a new coin whose glitter quickly 
caught Peter’s eye. With a bound he was off 
down the mountain, making amazing leaps in a 
straight line toward the little heap of clothing, 
which he soon reached. Picking the things up, he 
returned with them so quickly that Dete had 
nothing but praise for him as she gave him his 
well-earned money. 

With a beaming face Peter hastily thrust it into 
the farthest corner of his pocket, meanwhile be- 
stowing a broad smile on Dete, for it was not often 
that he acquired so great a treasure. 

“You may carry the bundle for me as far as the 
Uncle’s. You pass his hut on the way to the Aim, 
don’t you?” said Aunt Dete as she began to climb 
the steep ascent just back of Goat-Peter’s little 
home. 

The boy undertook his new duty very willingly. 
Thrusting the bundle under his left arm, and 
swinging the long stick with which he kept his 
flock in order in his right hand, he followed close 


ON THE WAY TO THE ALM-UNCLE 17 


at Date’s heels, while Heidi and the goats skipped 
and capered merrily along by his side. 

In this happy fashion the little company jour- 
neyed upward, and in about three-quarters of an 
hour reached the height where the pasture lands 
begin. Here stood the Uncle’s hut on a jutting 
ledge, exposed to every wind that blew, but get- 
ting every ray of sunshine as well, and a beautiful 
view of the valley beside. Behind the little house 
stood three tall old pine trees with long, thick 
branches that had never been trimmed. Beyond 
them the mountain rose again in an unbroken 
ascent, the lower slopes, still beautifully green and 
rich with fragrant herbs; above these, only strag- 
gling bushes among the stones, and at last, the 
bare, and hoary cliffs against the sky. 

Against the side of the hut which overlooked the 
valley the Uncle had set a bench he had made. 
It was here that he was now sitting, with his pipe 
in his mouth, and his hands on his knees, calmly 
watching the approach of the children, the goats 
and, last of all. Aunt Dete, who had long been 
overtaken and left behind by the others. 

Heidi was the first one up ; walking straight to- 
ward the old man she held out her hand to him and 
said: “Good day, grandfather.” 

“Well, what does this mean?” asked the old man 
gruffly, barely taking the child’s hand in his, but 


18 


HEIDI 


giving her a long and searching glance from under 
his bushy eyebrows. 

The little girl returned his look of inquiry with- 
out so much as the quiver of an eyelash, for this 
old grandfather with his long beard and thick gray 
eyebrows that met over his nose and looked 
strangely like some sort of underbrush, was so in- 
teresting a sight that Heidi could hardly take her 
eyes off of him. 

Meanwhile her Aunt Dete had reached the house 
together with Peter, who remained standing 
awhile to see what was going to happen. 

‘T wish you a very good day. Uncle,” said Dete. 
‘T am bringing you Tobias and Adelheid’s little 
girl. You will hardly know her, for you have not 
seen her since she was a year old.” 

“And what is the child to do up here with me?” 
asked the old man curtly. “And you, there,” he 
called out to Peter, “be off with your goats! You 
are none too early now. And take mine with 
you.” 

Peter did not wait to be told again, but disap- 
peared at once, for the Uncle had given him a look 
of which one was enough. 

“She is to stay with you. Uncle,” was Dete’s 
answer to his question. “I think I have done all 
that can be expected of me these four years past. 
It is time you did something for her now.” 


ON THE WAY TO THE ALM-UNCLE 19 


“Oh, indeed 1’’ said the old man with a look of 
angry contempt at Dete. “Suppose she begins to 
cry for you and whimpers, as foolish little creatures 
so often do, what is to be done then?” 

“That is for you to say,” retorted Dete. “No 
one told me what to do with her when she was left 
on my hands, a baby only one year old, and I had 
already all I could do to provide for mother and 
myself. Now I must go where I can earn more 
money, and you are her next of kin. If you can- 
not keep her, do as you think best with her; but if 
she comes to grief, it will be on your conscience, 
and I should think you had enough to answer for 
already.” 

Dete’s own conscience was far from easy in the 
matter; that was why she grew so angry and said 
more than she meant. At her last words the 
Uncle jumped tto his feet, and with a look in his 
eyes before which Dete drew back with fear, he 
pointed down the path, and said in a voice of com- 
mand : — 

“Be gone to where you came from, and don’t 
show your face up here again in a hurry!” 

Dete did not need to be told twice. Calling out 
a hasty good-bye to him, and “Good-bye to you 
too, Heidi,” she turned and ran down the moun- 
tain path as if driven by a steam engine. Her 
anger and excitement did not allow her to slacken 


20 


HEIDI 


her pace until she got to Dorfli, where she was now 
even more eagerly questioned than she had been in 
the morning. The people wondered what had be- 
come of the child, for they all knew Dete, and 
whose child Heidi was, as well as all that had be- 
fallen her. When from every door and window 
Dete was hailed with the questions: “Where is 
the child? Dete, what did you do with the child?’’ 
she called back more and more impatiently: 
“With the Alm-Uncle! Up with the Alm-Uncle, 
I tell you!” 

It was the exclamations of the women that made 
Dete so uncomfortable, for on every side she heard 
them say, “How could you do it!” “The poor 
little thing!” “To think of leaving such a help- 
less little child up there!” and then, again and 
again, “Oh, the poor thing!” 

Dete ran faster and faster, and was glad when 
she was beyond the reach of their tongues, for she 
felt far from easy about what she had done, es- 
pecially when she remembered how her dying 
mother had charged her to care for the child. But 
she quieted her conscience with the thought that if 
she earned a great deal of money, she could before 
long do something for Heidi again; and so she was 
glad that she would soon be far away from those 
who might persuade her otherwise, and in a place 
where she would get good wages. 


CHAPTER II 

WITH THE GRANDFATHER 

W HEN Dete had gone, the old man seated 
himself on his bench again. He said not 
a word, but puff ed great clouds of smoke 
from his pipe as he sat staring at the ground before 
him. 

Meanwhile Heidi was making a cheery inspec- 
tion of her new surroundings. The first thing she 
discovered was the goat-shed. She peered into it, 
but found it empty. Continuing her investiga- 
tions she soon found herself behind the hut under 
the three tall pines through which the wind was 
sweeping. As it tossed their great branches to 
and fro, it made a rush and roaring sound. Heidi 
stood still and listened. When it grew more 
quiet, the child went on around the corner of the 
hut and arrived in front again, where her grand- 
father was sitting. Finding him in the same posi- 
tion in which she had left him, she placed herself 
before him with her hands clasped behind her, and 
looked earnestly at him. 

Glancing up at her the old man said: “What 
do you want to do now?” 

“I want to see what you have in there, in your 

house,” was the child’s reply. 

31 


22 


HEIDI 


“Come on, then,” said her grandfather, as he 
rose and went toward the door. “Pick up your 
bundle and bring it along,” he added as he entered. 

“I shan’t need those things any more,” de- 
clared Heidi. 

The old man turned and looked keenly at the 
child whose black eyes were bright with eager an- 
ticipation of all that was to be seen within. 

“It can’t be that she is simple,” he muttered to 
himself, and then added aloud: “Why will you 
not need them?” 

“I want to run about like the goats; they have 
such light little legs.” 

“Well, you may, if you like; but bring the 
things; they can be put into the closet,” were the 
grandfather’s orders. 

Heidi obeyed. The old man opened the door, 
and she followed him into a large room which, 
being the only one, was as wide and long as the 
hut itself. In the middle stood a table with a chair 
beside it; in one corner was the grandfather’s bed, 
while in another a large kettle hung in the hearth; 
in the opposite wall was a large door which her 
grandfather opened; it was the closet. In it hung 
his clothes, while his shirts, stockings and neck- 
cloths lay folded on one of the shelves; on another 
stood some plates, cups and glasses, and on the 
top-most lay a round loaf of bread, smoked meat 


WITH THE GRANDFATHER. 


23 


and cheese; the closet contained all that the old 
man needed to supply his wants. 

As soon as the closet was open Heidi ran in and 
tucked her bundle as far under her grandfather’s 
clothes as possible, that it might not be easily found 
again. Coming back into the room she looked all 
around, and said:--^ 

“Where am I to sleep, grandfather?” 

“Where you like,” was his reply. 

Nothing could have pleased Heidi better. She 
ran into every corner and peered into each little 
nook to find the place where she would like best to 
sleep. In the corner where stood her grandfather’s 
bed, a little ladder led to the floor above. Heidi 
climbed up it and found herself in the hayloft, 
where lay a heap of fragrant hay, while low in the 
slanting roof was a round loophole through which 
she could look far away into the valley below. 

“This is where I want to sleep,” Heidi called 
down. “It’s a fine place. Come up and see how 
pretty it is, grandfather!” 

“I know very well,” came the answer from below. 

“I am going to make the bed now,” cried Heidi 
as she ran busily back and forth; “but you must 
bring me a sheet. A bed has to have a sheet, you 
know. That is what we lie on.” 

“Oh, indeed!” muttered the old man down- 
stairs ; but presently he went to the closet and after 


24 


HEIDI 


rummaging awhile, he drew forth a long piece of 
coarse cloth from under his shirts ; it was the near- 
est approach to a sheet that he had. Taking it up 
to the loft he found a very neat little bed made 
there. At its head the hay was piled high to serve 
as a pillow, and was so arranged that it faced the 
loophole through which the valley could be seen. 

“That is well done,” was the grandfather’s com- 
ment, “now let us spread the cloth. But wait a 
bit,” he added, as he took up a huge armful of hay 
and made the bed twice as thick as it had been, so 
that the hard floor could not be felt through at all. 
“There; now bring it here.” 

Heidi quickly picked up the cloth, but could 
hardly carry it, it was so heavy; and that was an 
advantage, for the sharp spears of hay could not 
pierce it. The two now spread the sheet over the 
hay, and where it was too long or too wide Heidi 
deftly tucked it under, giving the bed a very neat 
and tidy appearance. When it was made, she 
stood looking at it thoughtfully. 

“We have forgotten something, grandfather,” 
she said. 

“What is it?” he asked. 

“The coverlet; for, you know, when we go to 
bed we always get between the sheet and the cov- 
erlet.” 

“Oh, indeed! Well, suppose I haven’t any,” 
said the old man. 


WITH THE GRANDFATHER 


25 


‘‘Oh, then, no matter, grandfather! We can 
take more hay for a coverlet,” was Heidi’s consol- 
ing reply as she turned at once to the heap of hay 
beside her. But her grandfather stopped her. 

“Wait a moment,” said he, and went down the 
ladder to his own bed. Presently he came back 
and laid a large, heavy linen bag on the floor. 

“Isn’t this better than hay?” he asked. In her 
effort to spread it out, Heidi pulled it back and 
forth with all her might and main, but it was too 
heavy for her little hands. Her grandfather 
helped, and soon it was spread over the bed mak- 
ing it look so neat and proper that Heidi stood be- 
fore her new couch with wondering admiration, 
and exclaimed: “That is a lovely coverlet! My 
new bed is a fine one! Now I wish it were night 
so I could get into it.” 

“It seems to me we might have something to eat 
first,” said her grandfather. “What do you say to 
that?” 

In her eagerness to make her bed, Heidi had 
forgotten all else; but now, at the suggestion of 
something to eat, she suddenly felt very hungry, 
for she had eaten nothing since her early breakfast 
of bread and weak coffee, and since then she had 
made the long journey up the mountain. So she 
agreed readily enough with a prompt: “Yes, I 
think so too.” 


26 


HEIDI 


“Well then, since we are of one mind, let us go 
down,” said the old man, and followed the child 
down the ladder. Then he went to the hearth, 
pushed back the large kettle and drew forward a 
smaller one that hung on the chain. Seating him- 
self before it on the round, three-legged stool, he 
blew into the embers and soon had a bright blaze. 
Then the kettle began to boil, while under it a large 
piece of cheese was toasting on the end of a long 
fork which the old man turned round and round 
until the cheese was golden yellow on every side. 
Heidi looked on with the greatest interest. Sud- 
denly a new thought must have come to her, for 
she jumped up and ran to the closet and went 
busily back and forth a number of times. When 
her grandfather turned to the table with the kettle 
in one hand, and the fork with the toasted cheese 
in the other, he found it already set with two 
plates, and the loaf of bread neatly placed in the 
middle; for Heidi had noticed well aU that was in 
the closet and knew what was needed for a meal. 

“Well done! I am glad to see that you have 
ideas of your own,” said the grandfather, as he 
laid the cheese on a piece of bread. “But there is 
something lacking.” 

, Heidi looked about her, and seeing the kettle 
steaming so invitingly, she ran back to the closet. 
But on its shelves only one little bowl was to be 


WITH THE GRANDFATHER 


27 


seen; but Heidi was not long at a loss to know 
what to do. Behind the bowl stood two glasses; 
in a twinkling the little girl returned to the table 
with the bowl and one glass. 

“That is right; you know how to manage. But 
where will you sit?” said her grandfather who was 
himself seated on the only chair in the room. 
Quick as an arrow the child was over at the hearth, 
and back again with the three-legged stool on 
which she seated herself. 

“Well, now you have a chair, to be sure, but it is 
rather low,” said her grandfather; “even my chair 
would be too low for you to reach the table; but 
come, it is time you had something to eat.” 

So saying he rose, filled the bowl with milk, and 
set it on the chair which he placed in front of the 
three-legged stool on which Heidi was sitting, and 
so made a very nice table for the little girl. Then 
he laid beside the bowl of milk a large slice of 
bread with a piece of the golden-brown cheese on 
it, and said: — 

“Now eat!” 

The corner of the table served the old man as a 
seat, and now the meal was begun. Heidi took 
her bowl and drank and drank without stopping 
once, for all the thirst of her long journey must 
be satisfied. Then she drew a long breath — for 
her eagerness to drink had left her no time to 
breathe, — and set down the bowl. 


28 


HEIDI 


“Do you like the milk?” her grandfather asked. 

“I never tasted such good milk before,” an- 
swered Heidi. 

“Then you must have some more.” 

So saying her grandfather filled the bowl to the 
very brim, and set it before the child, who took a 
bite of the bread on which she had spread the 
cheese which, still warm from the toasting, was as 
soft as butter. The bread and cheese were very 
good together and after every savory mouthful 
Heidi took a drink of milk and looked very con- 
tent and happy. 

When the meal was over her grandfather went 
out to the goat stable where he found much to do, 
and Heidi’s eyes followed him everywhere, as, first 
he swept it clean, and then spread fresh straw 
about for the goats to sleep on; then, as he went 
into his workshop, and cut some round sticks, and 
afterward a board into which he bored four holes, 
and fitted the round sticks into them. Then he 
set it on the floor, and, behold! it was a chair just 
like his own, only much higher. Heidi opened 
her eyes wide with astonishment and stood speech- 
less with amazement. 

“What is that?” asked her grandfather. 

“That is a chair for me, because it is so high; all 
at once it was made,” said the child still filled with 
wonder and admiration. 



Heidi took her bowl and drank and drank. 



T 













-I 






t- 





■»» 






WITH THE GRANDFATHER 


29 


“She knows a thing when she sees it, and keeps 
her eyes open,’’ muttered the old man to himself. 
He now employed himself about the hut, driving 
a nail in here, another there; fastening a hinge on 
the door, and, as he passed from place to place 
with his hammer and nails and bits of wood, leav- 
ing everything a little better for his mending. 
Heidi followed close at his heels watching him with 
eager attention, for it was all very interesting to 
her. 

And so evening came on. The sighing of the old 
pines grew louder and louder; a mighty wind was 
sweeping over the mountain, and as it swayed the 
great branches of the trees, made them sigh and 
moan. The sound pleased Heidi and filled her 
heart with delight; she grew so merry that she 
skipped and danced about under the old trees as 
though she were having the happiest time of her 
life. Her grandfather stood in the doorway and 
watched the child. 

Suddenly a shrill whistle was heard. Heidi 
stopped her dancing, and the old man stepped out- 
side. Down the mountain, hopping and skipping, 
came the flock, goat after goat, like a game of tag, 
with Peter in the midst of them. 

With a cry of delight Heidi rushed to meet the 
merry troop, and greeted with joy each and all of 
her friends of the morning. When they reached 


30 


HEIDI 


the hut they all stood still, and from out the flock 
stepped two sleek and pretty goats — a white one 
and a brown one. Running up to the grandfather 
they eagerly licked his hands in which he held a 
little salt, a treat with which he always welcomed 
the pretty creatures on their return in the evening. 
Peter and the rest of his flock disappeared down 
the mountain. 

Heidi stroked first one and then the other of the 
two goats that had remained; then she ran round 
them to stroke the other side of their glossy coats, 
and was as happy as could be over the little crea- 
tures. 

“Are they ours, grandfather? Are they both 
ours? Are they going into the stable? Will they 
stay with us always?” eagerly asked the happy 
child, giving her grandfather hardly time enough 
to get his repeated answer of, “Yes, yes,” between 
her questions. When the goats had licked up all 
the salt, the old man said: — 

“Run in and get your bowl and the bread.” 

Heidi obeyed and soon returned with them. 
Her grandfather now milked the white goat; after 
filling the child’s bowl, he cut a slice of bread for 
her and said: — 

“Now eat, and then go up to bed. Your Aunt 
Dete left a bundle for you in which are your night- 
gowns and other things you may need. You will 


WITH THE GRANDFATHER 


31 


find it on the shelf in the closet. I must attend to 
the goats now, so, good-night.” 

“Good-night, grandfather! Good-night! What 
are their names, grandfather? what are their 
names?” cried Heidi, running after the old man as 
he disappeared round the corner with his goats. 

“The white one is called Swanli and the brown 
one, Bearli,” her grandfather called back to her. 

^ “Good-night, Swanli! Good-night, Bearli!” 
shouted the child at the top of her voice, for the 
last goat was just vanishing within the stable. 
Then she sat down on the bench to eat her supper 
of bread and milk ; but the wind was so strong that 
it nearly blew her from her seat, and so she hurried 
her meal, that she might get into the house and up 
to her bed, in which she was soon sleeping as 
soundly and sweetly as any one could sleep in the 
most princely of beds. 

Very soon afterward, before it was quite dark, 
her grandfather also went to bed, for he was al- 
ways up with the sun, and that rose very early 
from behind the mountains during these summer 
days. Later in the night the wind grew so strong 
that with every fierce gust the hut shook, and all 
the beams creaked and groaned; in the chimney 
wild voices seemed to cry and moan, and outside, 
the old pines were swaying back and forth so furi- 
ously that now and then a branch fell crashing to 


32 


HEIDI 


the ground. In the middle of the night the old 
man arose, muttering to himself: — “The child may 
be afraid.’’ 

Mounting the ladder he stepped to Heidi’s bed. 
For a moment the moon came out from behind the 
clouds, then disappeared again, and all was dark. 
But soon its beams fell through the round loophole 
and lay on the child’s bed. She was sleeping so 
warm and comfortably under her heavy coverlet 
that her cheeks were rosy-red, and she must have 
been dreaming of something pleasant, for there 
was a happy smile on the little face as it rested on 
one chubby arm. 

The old man stood looking at the peaceful little 
sleeper as long as the moon shone through the loop- 
hole; when it vanished behind a cloud, he returned 
to his bed. 


CHAPTER III 


THE GOAT PASTURE 

E arly the next morning Heidi was awak- 
ened by a shrill whistle, and on opening 
her eyes saw the yellow sunlight shining 
through the loophole, full on her bed and on the 
hay beside it, turning it all to shimmering gold. 
Heidi looked about her in surprise, and wondered 
where she was. 

But soon she heard her grandfather’s deep voice 
outside, and then it all came back to her— where 
she had come from, and that now she was to live 
with him up on the Aim, and not with old Ursel 
who was almost as deaf as a post, and always felt 
chilly. That was why she liked best to sit by the 
kitchen hearth, or beside the stove in the other 
room, and, as she could not hear Heidi and there- 
fore liked to keep her in sight, the child had to 
stay there too, although often the little room stifled 
her and she longed to be out doors. And so Heidi 
was very glad when she awoke in her new home 
and thought of everything— all the new things she 
had seen yesterday, and what she would see again 
to-day, especially Swanli and Bearli. 

So Heidi jumped quickly out of bed and was 
33 


34 


HEIDI 


soon dressed in all she had taken off the night 
before, which was very little. Then she climbed 
down the ladder and ran out through the open 
door. There stood Peter with his goats, and her 
grandfather was just opening the stable door to 
let Swanli and Bearli out to join the others. 
Heidi ran toward the old man to say good-morn- 
ing to him and the goats. 

“Would you like to go with them up to the pas- 
ture?’’ he asked. There was nothing that Heidi 
would have liked better, and she danced up and 
down for joy at the very thought. 

“But first you must wash yourself, and be tidy, 
else the sun, that is always so shiny and bright up 
yonder, will laugh to see you look so black. See, 
everything is ready for you over there,” said her 
grandfather as he pointed to a large tub full of 
water standing in the sunshine before the door. 

Heidi ran to it and splashed and rubbed until 
she was so clean that she shone. Meanwhile her 
grandfather went into the hut and called to 
Peter : — 

“Come here, commander of goats, and bring 
your haversack with you.” 

In great surprise Peter followed him into the 
house and held out the little bag in which he car- 
ried his meagre dinner. 

“Open it,” was the old man’s next order; then 


THE GOAT PASTURE 


35 


he put into it a huge slice of bread and an equally 
large piece of cheese. Peter looked on in round- 
eyed wonder, for the two pieces were each half 
again as large as those which had been put in for 
his dinner. 

“There; now the bowl must go in,” said the 
grandfather, “for the child cannot drink as you 
do, right from the goats themselves; she doesn’t 
know how. You are to fill the bowl twice for her 
dinner, for she is going with you and will stay until 
you come back. Take good care of her, and don t 
let her fall over the cliffs; do you hear?” 

Heidi now came running up. 

“Will the sun find anything to laugh at now, 
grandfather?” she asked anxiously. In her fear 
of the sun’s laughter she had rubbed her face, neck 
and arms so vigorously with the coarse towel that 
her grandfather had hung beside the tub, that she 
now stood before him as red as a lobster. The 
old man smiled as he looked at her. 

“No, he’ll find nothing to laugh at now. But I 
will tell you something; this evening, when you get 
home, you must jump into the water all over, just 
like a fish, for little folks that run about with the 
goats get black feet just like them. Now you can 
aU be off.” 

Away they went, up the mountain, as merry as 
could be. The wind that had blown so hard all 


36 


HEIDI 


night had not left a cloud in the sky. From the 
deep blue overhead, the glorious sun poured its 
warmth and light down the mountain side until 
all the blue and yellow flowers opened wide their 
cups and smiled back at it in gratitude. Heidi 
ran hither and thither, shouting for joy; for here 
were whole troops of delicate, pink primroses, and 
beyond them the ground was blue with gentians, 
while everywhere was nodding yellow rockroses 
^ncing in the golden sunshine. So delighted was 
Heidi with all these nodding and shining blossoms 
that she quite forgot the goats, and even Peter 
himself. She ran far ahead, and then off to one 
side, for here she saw a sheen of red, and yonder 
a glimmer of yellow which she could not resist, 
i^d wherever she went she gathered great bunches 
ot the gay blossoms and stowed them away in her 
apron, for she meant to take them home with her 
and set them all round in the hay up in her loft 
so that her sleeping-room might be as beautiful as 
it was here. 

Poor Peter had to look in every direction at once 
to-day, and those round eyes of his, that were never 
very quick, had more to do than they could well 
manage, for the goats followed Heidi’s example. 
They ran hither and thither, and he had to whistle 
and call and swing his long stick to get all the 
truants into line again. 


THE GOAT PASTURE 


37 


“Where have you gone now, Heidi?'’ he shouted 
rather angrily. 

“Here,” came the answer from somewhere out 
of sight, for Heidi was sitting on the ground be- 
hind a little knoll that was quite covered with 
blossoming prunelles. The air was filled with 
their sweet odor and as Heidi sat among the 
flowers drinking in their perfume in deep breaths, 
she thought she had never before smelled anything 
half so delightful. 

“Come on,” cried Peter again. “Remember, 
you are not to fall down over the cliffs; your 
grandfather forbade it.” 

“Where are the cliffs?” asked Heidi without, 
however, showing any intention of rising, for the 
sweet fragrance of the flowers seemed more de- 
licious to her with every breath she drew. 

“Up yonder, away up yonder. But we have 
still a long way before us, so come on. Up there 
on the highest cliff of all sits the old eagle and 
screams.” 

That brought Heidi to her feet, and she ran 
after Peter as fast as she could, with her apron 
full of flowers. 

“You have enough now,” said he as the two were 
again clambering upward together; “else you’ll be 
stopping all along the way, and besides, if you 
take them all to-day there’ll be none left for to- 
morrow.” 


38 


HEIDI 


The last reason appealed to Heidi. Moreover, 
her apron was already so full of flowers there was 
little room for more, and to-morrow she would 
come again to see them. So she trudged along at 
Peter's side; and the goats, too, were more tract- 
able, for they sniffed from afar the tempting fra- 
grance of the herbs that awaited them on the up- 
per pastures, and so climbed on without delay. 

The grazing place where Peter usually made a 
halt with his goats, and set up his quarters for the 
day, lay at the foot of great cliffs whose base was 
green with bushes and scrub-pines, but whose 
jagged peaks towered bare and bleak into the 
heavens. On one side the pasture lands fell away 
in sheer precipices to the valley below, and the 
grandfather’s warning with regard to them was 
not without reason. 

When Peter reached this place he laid aside his 
bag and stowed it carefully away in a little hollow 
where the wind, which often came in rude and sud- 
den gusts up here, could not carry it off; for he 
had no wish to see his precious bag go rolling down 
the mountain. Then he stretched himself out on 
the warm and sunny ground, for he felt the need 
of rest after the morning’s climb. 

Meanwhile Heidi had untied her apron and, 
with all the flowers it contained, rolled it into a 
neat, tight little bundle, and tucked it away for 


THE GOAT PASTURE 


39 


safekeeping next the lunch bag. Then she sat 
down beside the prostrate Peter and looked about 
her. Far below lay the valley bathed in the glori- 
ous morning sunshine; opposite her a great, wide 
snow-field stretched upward, rising higher and 
higher until it seemed to touch the dark blue sky 
beyond; to the left of it towered a gigantic mass 
of rocks, on either side of which stood a great 
rocky pillar whose bare and jagged peaks pierced 
the blue above, and seemed to Heidi to be looking 
down at her, gravely and solemnly. The child sat 
as still as a mouse, gazing about her; there was a 
deep silence all around, only the wind whispered 
very gently among the shimmering rockroses and 
delicate bluebells that everywhere nodded gaily on 
their slender stems. Peter had fallen asleep after 
his exertions, and the goats were climbing about 
among the bushes farther up. As she drank in 
the golden sunshine, the pure fresh air and the del- 
icate perfume of the flowers, she wished for noth- 
ing better than to stay where she was forever, for 
she had never been so happy in all her life before. 

In this way a long time passed and Heidi looked 
so long and steadily at the high mountain peaks, 
that at length they seemed all to have faces and to 
be looking back at her like good old friends. 

Suddenly she heard loud, shrill cries above her 
in the air, and looking up beheld the largest bird 


40 


HEIDI 


she had ever seen, poised above her on wide out- 
stretched wings; then it soared about in great cir- 
cles, returning again and again to a point just 
over her head. 

“Peter, Peter, wake up!” cried Heidi as loud as 
she could. “See, the eagle has come! See, there, 
there!” 

Peter roused himself at her cry of alarm, and 
the two children watched the bird as it rose higher 
and higher into the blue dome above and finally 
vanished behind the gray cliffs. 

“Where has he gone?” asked Heidi, whose eyes 
had followed the bird with the deepest interest. 

“Home, to his nest,” was Peter’s answer. 

“Is his home away up yonder? Oh, how 
lovely to live so high up. Why does he scream 
so?” Heidi continued her questioning. 

“Because he must,” was Peter’s explanation. 

“Let us climb up there and see where he lives,” 
proposed Heidi. 

“Oh, oh, oh,” Peter broke forth, each exclama- 
tion marked by a tone of greater disapproval. 
“Why even the goats can’t get up there, and your 
grandfather said you were not to fall over the 
cliffs.” 

And now Peter set up such a tremendous shout- 
ing and whistling that Heidi wondered what was 
going to happen. But the goats must have un- 



She wished for nothing better than to stay where she 

was forever. 








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9 


THE GOAT PASTURE 


41 


derstood it well enough, for they came jumping 
and running down the mountain side, one after the 
other, until the whole flock was assembled on the 
green pasture, some nibbling away at the juicy 
stalks, others skipping hither and thither, while 
still others tried their horns on one another in play- 
ful combat. 

Heidi had jumped to her feet and was soon in 
the midst of them, for to her it was a new and 
highly amusing sight to see the little creatures 
skip about and carry on their merry antics. She 
ran from one to the other, getting personally ac- 
quainted with each in turn, for no two were alike, 
each one having its own peculiar appearance and 
ways. 

Meanwliile Peter had fetched his bag and taken 
out the two slices of bread and two pieces of 
cheese, and laid them in a neat square on the grass, 
the two large pieces on Heidi’s side, the small ones 
on his own; for he knew very well to whom each 
one belonged. Then taking the bowl, he milked 
it full of sweet, fresh milk from Swanli, and set it 
in the middle of the square. Then he called Heidi, 
but she did not obey his call as promptly as had 
the goats, for she was so delighted and amused by 
the varied antics of her new playfellows that she 
could see and hear nothing else. 

But Peter knew how to make himself heard ; he 


42 


HEIDI 


shouted until the cliffs resounded, and presently 
Heidi appeared and was so pleased with the invit- 
ing looking table that she glanced up and down 
with glee. 

“Stop your jumping; it is time to eat,” said 
Peter. “Sit down, and begin.” 

Heidi sat down. 

“Is the milk for me?” she asked with another 
glance of undisguised admiration at the beautiful 
square with its central point of interest. 

“Yes,” answered Peter; “and the two big pieces 
are yours too; and when you have emptied your 
bowl, I am to fill it again for you from Swanli, and 
then it will be my turn.” 

“And from which goat wiU you get your milk?” 
Heidi now wanted to know. 

“From my own goat, Snaili. Now do begin 
to eat,” urged Peter again. 

Heidi began with the milk, and no sooner had 
she set down the empty bowl when Peter got up 
and filled it a "second time. In the meantime 
Heidi had broken off a part of her bread, and now 
handed Peter all that was left; and this was even 
yet a much larger slice than his own which, to- 
gether with his cheese, was fast disappearing. 
Putting the whole of her large piece of cheese 
with the bread, she said: — 

“You can have that; I have had enough.” 


THE GOAT PASTURE 


43 


Peter stared at her in speechless amazement, for 
never in his life had he been able to say as much 
and still have something to give away. He hesi- 
tated a moment, for he could not believe that 
Heidi was in earnest; but she did not withdraw 
her hand, and when Peter did not take what she 
offered, she laid it on his knee. Then he saw that 
she meant what she said, and seizing the welcome 
gift, he nodded his thanks and approval as he fell 
to upon the heartiest meal he had ever had in his 
whole career as goatherd. Meanwhile Heidi 
watched the goats. 

“What are all their names, Peter?” she asked. 

Now this was something that Peter knew very 
well, and perhaps it was easier for him to carry it 
in his head because there was little else there to 
crowd it out. So he began and, without hesitating 
once, named them all, one after the other, and 
pointed them out as he did so. Heidi gave the 
closest attention, and before long knew each goat 
from its fellows, and could call it by name; for 
every one had its own peculiarities, easily to be 
remembered by anyone who looked at the little 
crbatures carefully, and this Heidi did. 

There was big Turk with his strong horns which 
he was always so ready to use against the others, 
so that most of them ran away at his approach, 
and would have nothing to do with their rough 


44 


HEIDI 


comrade. The only one that never retreated be- 
fore him was the valiant little Goldfinch, a slender, 
nimble fellow who often ran at him three or four 
times, one after the other, and with such speed 
and energy that the big Turk stopped short in 
astonishment and forgot to renew his attack; for 
there stood Goldfinch ready to return it with his 
sharp little horns. 

Then there was little white Snowhopli, who was 
always bleating so plaintively that Heidi had to 
run to the little creature a number of times to try 
and comfort it by taking its head in her arms. Now 
again the child was at the little goat’s side, for 
she could not resist the tender young voice. Put- 
ting her arms around the little animal’s neck, she 
asked very sympathetically: — 

“What is the matter, Snowhopli? Why are 
you always crying so pitifully?” 

The goat nestled confidingly against the child 
and ceased complaining. 

From his seat on the grass Peter called out in a 
voice somewhat choked at times, for he stiU had 
much to chew and swallow: — 

“Snowhopli cries so because the old one doesn’t 
come up with us any more; she was sold to some 
one in Mayenfeld day before yesterday, and since 
then she doesn’t come to the pasture with us.” 
“Who is the old one?” called Heidi in return. 


THE GOAT PASTURE 


45 


“Pooh! The mother, to be sure,’’ was Peter’s 
scornful reply. 

“Where is the grandmother?” Heidi called 
again. 

“Hasn’t any.” 

“Where is the grandfather?” 

“Hasn’t any.” 

“Oh, you poor little Snowhopli,” cried Heidi as 
she hugged the little creature close to her; “but 
you needn’t cry any more, for I am coming up 
with you every day now, and then you will not be 
so lonely, and when something troubles you, you 
can run to me.” 

Snowhopli rubbed her head contentedly against 
Heidi’s shoulder and did not bleat any more. 
Peter had finished his dinner by this time and now 
joined his flock and Heidi, who was again ear- 
nestly watching the goats. 

Of all the flock the two prettiest and best kept 
by far, were Swanli and Bearli. They had a su- 
perior air, too, and kept to themselves most of the 
time, especially avoiding the big Turk, whom they 
treated with great scorn. 

The goats were climbing upward again to the 
bushes they liked best, each one in his own peculiar 
way — some running on, heedless of everything; 
others prudently searching for all that was good 
along the way, while the big Turk tried his horns 


46 


HEIDI 


on one or the other of his companions. Swanli 
and Bearli climbed gracefully and lightly, and 
were quiek to find the best bushes, from which they 
then nibbled the leaves in a skilful and dainty fash- 
ion. With her hands clasped behind her, Heidi 
stood watching all this. 

“Peter,” said she to her companion, who was 
full length on the ground again, “Peter, the pret- 
tiest of them all are Swanli and Bearli.” 

“I know that well enough,” was the reply; “the 
Alm-Uncle washes and brushes them, and gives 
them salt, and has the best stable.” 

Suddenly Peter sprang to his feet and ran leap- 
ing after the goats, Heidi following him at the 
top of her speed, for she knew that something 
must be happening and she did not want to lose it. 
Peter rushed on right through the flock toward 
that side of the pasture lands where they ended 
abruptly in a high and rocky precipice over which 
a heedless goat, in venturing too near the edge, 
might easily fall and break its bones. Toward 
this dangerous point Peter had seen the bold little 
Goldflneh running merrily, and the boy reached 
him none too soon, for the little fellow was just 
leaping toward the edge of the precipice. Peter 
was just about to seize him, when he tripped and 
fell to the ground, but managed to catch the ani- 
mal’s leg, to which he clung. Goldfinch did not 


THE GOAT PASTURE 


like to be held by the leg, and bleated loud with 
anger and surprise at this rude interruption of his 
merry little excursion while he struggled stub- 
bornly to continue it. Peter screamed to Heidi to 
come and help him, for he could not get up, and 
was in danger of pulling the poor animal’s leg ofF. 
Heidi was not far behind him, and instantly un- 
derstood the peril that threatened. As quick as a 
flash she pulled a handful of tempting herbs and 
held them under the goat’s nose, saying coax- 
ingly:^ 

“Come, come. Goldfinch, you must be sensible. 
Don’t you see that you might fall down there and 
break your leg, and that would hurt dreadfully.” 

The little creature turned at once and very con- 
tentedly began to nibble the herbs that the child 
held out to him. Meanwhile Peter had got on his 
feet again, and had slipped his hand through the 
cord that Goldflnch wore round his neck, and on 
which hung his little bell. Heidi caught hold of 
it from the other side, and in this way the two 
children led the little runaway back to where his 
companions were peacefully grazing. 

When Peter had him safely back, he raised his 
long stick to punish him with a sound whipping, 
at which Goldfinch drew back timidly, for he knew 
what was coming. But Heidi cried out: — 

“No, no, Peter! You must not strike him! 
See how frightened he is.” 


48 


HEIDI 


“He deserves it,” snarled Peter angrily, and 
was just going to strike, when Heidi caught him 
by the arm and cried indignantly: — 

“You shall not strike him; it will hurt him! 
Let him go!” 

Peter looked with astonishment at the imperious 
little girl, whose black eyes flashed at him in a way 
that made him drop his stick involuntarily. 

“Well then, he may go if you will give me some 
of your cheese again to-morrow,” said Peter, yield- 
ing, but at the same time trying to get something 
to compensate him for the fright he had suffered. 

“You may have it all— the whole piece— to- 
morrow and every day; I do not need it,” was 
Heidi’s ready assent. “And I will give you some 
of my bread, too; a piece as big as the one to-day; 
hut then you must promise never to strike Gold- 
finch, never; nor Snowhopli, nor any of the goats.” 

“It’s all one to me,” was the reply, which was 
Peter’s way of giving his promise. Then he let 
the little culprit go, and away went Goldfinch, 
leaping back to the flock with many a merry caper. 

Thus the day slipped by unnoticed, and already 
the sun was nearing the tops of the western moun- 
tains. Heidi was sitting very quietly on the 
ground looking at the bluebells and tender rock- 
roses glistening in the golden evening sunshine; 
even the grass had caught the golden light, and the 



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. • 



THE GOAT PASTURE 


49 


cliffs above were beginning to gleam and glow, 
when suddenly the child sprang to her feet, cry- 
ing:— 

“Peter! See! The fire, the fire, Peter! All 
the mountains are in flames, and the big snow- 
field yonder is burning, and the sky! Oh, look, 
look ! The great rocks are all red ! Oh, the beau- 
tiful burning snow! Peter, get up! See, the fire 
has reached the eagle’s nest! Oh, do look at the 
rocks! Look at the pine trees! Everything, 
everything is on fire!” 

“It is always so,” said Peter quite unmoved as 
he whittled away at his stick; “but it’s no fire.” 

“What is it, then?” asked Heidi eagerly, and 
ran hither and thither to look in every direction, 
for she could not see enough, it was so beautiful 
on every side. 

“What is it, Peter? What is it?” she asked 
again. 

“Oh, it just comes so of itself,” was Peter’s ex- 
planation. 

“Oh, see, see!” cried Heidi in great excitement; 
“all the mountains are turning rosy-red! Look 
at the one with the snow, and that one with the 
high, pointed cliffs! What are their names, 
Peter? What are their names?” 

“Mountains have no names,” was the reply. 

“Oh, how beautiful! Look at the pink snow! 


50 


HEIDI 


And oh, see all the many, many roses up yonder 
on the rocks! Oh, now they are turning gray! 
Oh, oh! Now it is all fading out! Now it is all 
gone, Peter!” And Heidi sat down on the grass 
looking as disconsolate as though the world were 
coming to an end. 

“To-morrow it will be so again,” said Peter. 
“Come, get up; we must go home now.” 

The boy shouted and whistled for his goats, and 
then the whole company started homeward. 

“Will it be so every day, every day that we come 
up here?” asked Heidi in eager hope of an assur- 
ing answer as she trudged along at Peter’s side. 

“Usually,” was the answer. 

“But to-morrow? Are you sure it will be so to- 
morrow?” she wanted to know. 

“Yes, yes; to-morrow, of course!” Peter assured 
her, whereupon Heidi’s good spirits returned. 

But she had seen so much that was new, and had 
so many things to think about, that she was quite 
silent all the way down to her grandfather’s hut. 
There they saw the old man sitting under the pine 
trees where he had set a bench so that it faced the 
side of the mountain down which the goats usually 
came. Heidi ran toward him, with Swanli and 
Bearli close behind her, for the goats knew their 
master and their stable well. 

As Peter lWC^ on with his goats he called back 


THE GOAT PASTURE 


51 


to Heidi, “Good-night! Come again to-mor- 
row;” for he had good reason for wanting her to 
go again. 

Heidi ran after him and gave him her hand in 
assurance that she would certainly go with him in 
the morning. Then she darted into the midst of 
the departing flock and throwing her arms around 
Snowhopli’s neck, said tenderly: — 

“Sleep well, Snowhopli, and remember that I 
am going with you to-morrow, and that you must 
never bleat so sadly again.” 

Snowhopli looked gratefully at the little girl, 
and then ran merrily after the other goats. 

Heidi ran hack to her grandfather, and could 
not wait until she had reached him to call out: — 

“Oh, grandfather, it was so beautiful! The 
fire, and the roses on the rocks, and all the blue 
and yellow flowers! And see what I have 
brought you!” whereupon she undid her tightly- 
folded apron and emptied her whole store of 
flowers on the ground at her grandfather’s feet. 

But how the poor little things looked! Heidi 
hardly recognized them, for they were as dry as 
hay, and not one little cup was open. 

“Oh, grandfather! What ails them?” cried 
Heidi, very much shocked. “They weren’t so 
when I picked them. What makes them look so 
now?” 


52 


HEIDI 


“They were made to live out in the sunshine, and 
not to be folded up in a little girl’s apron,” said 
her grandfather. 

“Oh, what a pity! I will never bring any more 
home with me. But grandfather, why does the 
eagle scream so?” was Heidi’s next eager question. 

“Now you must get into the tub while I go to 
the stable to get some milk, and then we will go 
in and have our supper, and while we are eating 
I will tell you.” 

When all had been done as her grandfather had 
said, and Heidi was sitting on her high stool be- 
side him, with her bowl of milk before her, she re- 
membered her question and promptly asked : 
“Why does the eagle scream so and cry down at 
us, grandfather?” 

“He jeers at the people down below here be- 
cause they live crowded together in villages and 
vex one another. So he cries out at them scorn- 
fully: Tf you would leave one another, and each 
one go his own way and live high up on a moun- 
tain top, as I do, you would be happier!’ ” 

Her grandfather said this in so loud and fierce 
a tone that Heidi seemed to hear the eagle’s wild 
scream once more. 

“Why do the mountains have no names, grand- 
father?” was her next question. 

“They have names,” was the reply; “and if you 


THE GOAT PASTURE 


53 


will describe one so that I can recognize it, I will 
tell you what it is called.” 

Heidi now described the rocky peak with the 
towering cliiFs on either side, at which her grand- 
father nodded approvingly, and said: — 

‘T know that one; its name is Falkniss. Did 
you see any other?” 

Hereupon Heidi described the mountain with 
the great snow-field that had suddenly glowed like 
fire, then turned rosy-red, and at last had grown 
pale and gray. 

‘T recognize that one, too,” said her grandfa- 
ther; “it is Casaplana. So you like to go up to 
the pasture, do you?” 

Hekli now told him all that had happened dur- 
ing the day — how beautiful it had been, especially 
the fire in the evening, and she wanted her grand- 
father to tell her where it had come from, for 
Peter had not known. 

“It is the sun who does that,” explained her 
grandfather. “You see, when he says good-night 
to the mountains he sends them his brightest rays 
to remember him by until he comes again in the 
morning.” 

This pleased Heidi, and she could hardly wait 
for the coming of another day on which she could 
go up to the pasture and see the sun as it said 
good-night to the mountains. But first she had to 


54 


HEIDI 


go to sleep; and sleep she did, most soundly, the 
whole night long on her bed of hay, while she 
dreamed of many shining mountains with red roses 
on them, and in the midst of them Snowhopli ran 
and played merrily. 


CHAPTER IV 


WITH THE GRANDMOTHER 

T he next morning the bright sun rose again, 
and soon after it came Peter with his goats, 
and then the little company climbed up to 
the pasture again. So the days passed; and with 
all this out-door life Heidi grew browner than 
ever, and so well and strong that she never had an 
ache or a pain, but lived as blithely and happily 
day after day as did the merry birds in the green 
tree-tops. 

But when autumn came, and the wind swept 
over the mountains in loud blasts, her grandfather 
sometimes said: — 

“To-day you must stay at home, Heidi, for one 
of these strong gusts of wind may easily blow a 
little thing like you off of the rocks and into the 
valley below.” 

When Peter heard this he looked very discon- 
solate, for he saw before him a day of misfortune. 
In the first place he was so lonely without Heidi 
now-a-days that he hardly knew what to do with 
himself when she did not go with him; then, too, 
he missed his sumptuous dinner, and the goats 
were so unruly on such days that he had twice the 

55 


56 


HEIDI 


usual trouble with them, for they also had become 
so used to Heidi’s company that they would not 
go on without her, but ran off in every direction. 

But Heidi was never unhappy, for there was 
always something to which she looked forward 
with pleasure. Best of all she liked to go with 
Peter and the goats up to the pasture where the 
flowers grew and the eagle screamed, and where, 
with so many goats, there was always something 
of interest happening. However, to watch her 
grandfather as he hammered and sawed, and made 
all sorts of useful things, was also very amusing; 
and, if it so happened that on one of her days at 
home her grandfather prepared the little round 
goat cheeses she admired so much, she was es- 
pecially happy, for it was so interesting to see him 
at this remarkable task, as, with shirt sleeves rolled 
up, he stirred the big kettle. 

But what gave Heidi most delight on these 
windy days was the rushing and roaring in the 
three old pine trees behind the hut. Thither she 
was always running, leaving all else, no matter 
what it might be; for there was nothing she loved 
so much as the deep, mysterious sound of the wind 
as it tossed the giant branches overhead. At such 
times Heidi would stand down below and listen, 
and listen, never getting weary of seeing and hear- 
ing the wonderful commotion far up in the old 


WITH THE GRANDMOTHER 


57 


trees as the wind swept through them in mighty 
gusts. The sun was not as hot now as it had been 
in the summer, and Heidi got out her stockings 
and shoes, and her little frock, too, for it was 
growing cooler and cooler with every day, and 
when she stood under the pine trees the wind blew 
her about as though she were only a thin little 
leaf herself. Nevertheless, she came again and 
again, for she could not feel content in the hut 
when she heard the wind in the old trees. 

By and by it grew very cold, and Peter breathed 
on his finger-tips when he came early in the morn- 
ing. But he did not come much longer, for one 
night the snow fell, and the next morning the 
pasture lands were all white, and not a green leaf- 
let was to be seen far and wide; after that the goat- 
herd came no more with his flock. 

And now Heidi stood by the little window, for 
it had begun to snow again, and watched with 
growing wonder the dancing snowflakes as they fell 
thick and fast until the snow outside the window 
lay as high as the sill, and still it snowed; finally 
the little window could not be opened at all, and 
the house seemed all shut in. This seemed very 
amusing to Heidi, and she ran from one window to 
the other to see how far up the snow reached, and 
whether, in the end, it would not cover the whole 
hut so that her grandfather would have to light 


58 


HEIDI 


the candle in the middle of the day. But it did 
not get as bad as that, and the next morning her 
grandfather took his shovel and went out doors — 
for it had stopped snowing — and cleared a space 
all around the hut. He piled the snow into great 
heaps so that here, there and everywhere rose little 
white mountains all around the hut. 

And now all the doors and windows could be 
opened again, and it was well that they could; for 
in the afternoon while Heidi and her grandfather 
were sitting by the open fire, on their three-legged 
stools — for the old man had long ago made one 
for Heidi — ^they heard a sudden noise outside, and 
something struck against the wooden door-sill 
again and again. Then the door was opened from 
without, and there stood Goat-Peter; it had not 
been out of impertinence, however, that he kicked 
the door so rudely, but to free his boots of the 
snow which had quite covered them. In fact, 
Peter was white with snow from his head to his 
heels, for he had been obliged to force his way 
through high drifts, and the snow had clung to his 
clothes and frozen on them in the sharp air. But 
he would not turn back, for it was now eight days 
since he had seen Heidi, and he would not wait 
longer. 

“Good-afternoon!” he said as he entered; then, 
going straight to the fire, he placed himself before 


WITH THE GRANDMOTHER 


59 


it and remained there without saying another 
word; but his beaming face told how glad he was 
to be there. 

Heidi looked at him in wide-eyed wonder, for it 
was warm by the fire, and the snow all over him be- 
gan to thaw and drip down, so that presently he 
looked like a small waterfall. 

“Well, goat general, how are you?” said the 
grandfather. “Now that you have lost your regi- 
ment, you have to gnaw your pencil, eh?” 

“Why does he have to gnaw his pencil, grand- 
father?” asked Heidi with her usual quick interest. 

“In the winter time he goes to school,” the 
grandfather explained, “where they learn to read 
and write, and that is very hard work at times; 
then it helps matters along a bit to gnaw one’s 
pencil. Isn’t that so, general?” 

“Yes, that’s so,” replied Peter. 

Now Heidi’s interest was fully aroused and she 
asked Peter many questions about the school — 
what was done there, and what to be seen and 
heard; and, since any conversation in which Peter 
took part required considerable time, he had 
ample opportunity to get nice and dry. He al- 
ways found it hard to put his ideas into words, but 
to-day he had more than usual to contend with, for 
hardly had he found the words for one answer be- 
fore Heidi had hurled two or three new ones at 


60 


HEIDI 


him, and mostly such as required a whole sentence 
in reply. 

The old man took no part in the children’s con- 
versation, but a merry twinkle in his eye and an 
occasional twitching of his lips showed that he 
was listening. 

“Well, general, now you have been under fire 
and will need refreshment, eh? Come, take sup- 
per with us.” 

So saying the old man rose and got the evening 
meal out of the closet, while Heidi set the chairs 
around the table. Against one wall stood a new 
bench which the grandfather had made and fast- 
ened there. Now that he was no longer alone 
he had arranged all sorts of seats around the room, 
and all of them with place for two; for Heidi 
had a way of keeping near her grandfather wher- 
ever he walked or stood or sat. So there were 
seats enough for all; and Peter’s round eyes grew 
rounder still when he saw what a big piece of fine 
smoked meat the Aim-Uncle put on the thick slice 
of bread he handed him. The boy had not fared 
so well for a long time. Hardly was the pleasant 
meal over when it began to grow dark, and Peter 
had to start for home. When he had said “Good- * 
night” and “God bless you,” and was already at 
the open door, he turned back to say: — 

‘‘Next Sunday I am coming again — a week 


WITH THE GRANDMOTHER 


61 


from to-day ; and grandmother says you must 
come to see her some time.’’ 

Now this was an entirely new idea for Heidi, 
that she should visit some one; but it took root at 
once, and on the very next morning her first words 
were : — 

“Grandfather, now I must go to see Peter’s 
grandmother; she expects me.” 

“The snow is too deep,” was her grandfather’s 
evasive answer. But Heidi did not give up the 
idea, for the grandmother had asked for her, and 
so of course she must go. After that not a day 
passed on which she did not say five or six times : — 

“Grandfather, to-day I ought surely to go, for 
the grandmother is waiting for me.” 

On the fourth day it was so cold that out of 
doors everything creaked and cracked underfoot, 
and there was a thick, firm crust on the snow; but 
the bright sun shone into the window and right on 
Heidi’s chair as she sat at dinner. Hardly had she 
finished when she began her little speech again: — 

“Surely, to-day I must go to see the grand- 
mother, for she will get tired of waiting.” 

Her grandfather rose from the table, and climb- 
ing up to the loft soon came back with the heavy 
sack that served as Heidi’s coverlet. 

“Well, come on,” said he, to Heidi’s great joy. 
Hopping and skipping with glee she followed him 


62 


HEIDI 


into the shining white world without. The old 
pine trees were very still now, for their branches 
were heavy with snow, and as the sun shone on 
them, they glistened and sparkled so wonderfully 
that Heidi danced about with delight, crying over 
and over again; — ■ 

“Come out, grandfather! Come out! The 
pine trees are all silver and gold!” 

Her grandfather h^d gone into the shed, and 
now came out dragging a wide sled after him. It 
had an upright bar of wood fastened to one side of 
it, and the seat was so low that in sitting on it, the 
feet could be struck into the snow and so used to 
guide the sled in its downward course. 

After Heidi had taken her grandfather all 
around the pine trees to admire them from every 
side, the old man seated himself on the sled ; taking 
the child in his lap, and wrapping her up in the 
heavy sack to keep her snug and warm, he put his 
left arm round her to hold her close to him, which 
was a very necessary precaution in the ride before 
them; then he grasped the upright bar with his 
right hand, and gave a quick push with both feet. 
Away they went, speeding so swiftly down the 
mountain side that Heidi felt as though she were 
flying through the air like a bird, and shouted 
with glee. 

Suddenly the sled stood still, and there they 



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WITH THE GRANDMOTHER 


63 


were, just in front of Goat-Peter’s home. Her 
grandfather set the little girl on her feet and un- 
winding the sack from around her, .said:™ 

“There, now run in; and when it begins to grow 
dark, come out and start for home.” 

Then, dragging his sled after him, he climbed 
back up the mountain. 

Upon opening the door Heidi found herself in a 
tiny room where it was very dark; there was a 
hearth to be seen, and over it a shelf on which stood 
a row of dishes, so this must be the kitchen. 
There was a door opposite, which Heidi opened 
and entered another small and narrow room, for 
this was not a mountain herdsman’s hut, with one 
large room below and a loft above, like her grand- 
father’s, but a very old little house where every- 
thing was cramped and narrow and dingy. 
Upon stepping into the room Heidi was close be- 
side a table at which sat a woman mending Peter’s 
blouse, which Heidi recognized at once. At a 
spinning wheel in one corner of the room sat a 
bent little old woman. Heidi did not need to be 
told who this was, but walking straight up to her, 
said : — 

“Good-afternoon, grandmother! Here I am. 
Did you think I was a long time coming?” 

The grandmother raised her head and sought 
the hand that was held out to her. When she had 


64 


HEIDI 


found it, she held it for a moment, passed her 
fingers over it thoughtfully, and then said : — 

“Are you the child who is staying with the Alm- 
Uncle? Are you little Heidi?” 

“Yes, yes,” was the child’s answer; “grand- 
father has just brought me down on his sled.” 

“Is it possible? And your hands so warm? 
Say, Brigitte, did the Aim-Uncle really bring the 
child down?” 

Peter’s mother, Brigitte — for it was she who 
was sitting at the table mending — now arose, and 
after looking the little girl over from head to foot 
with much curiosity, said: — 

“I do not know, mother, whether the Aim- 
Uncle himself came down with the child or not; 
it is hardly possible, however; the child may not 
know exactly.” 

But Heidi’s eyes looked straight into Brigitte’s, 
and not in the least as though she were in doubt, 
as she said: — 

“I know very well who wrapped me up in the 
warm coverlet and brought me down on the sled; 
it was my grandfather.” 

“Then there must be some truth after all in 
what Peter told us about the Alm-Uncle last sum- 
mer, when we thought he was mistaken,” said the 
grandmother. “But who would have believed it! 
I thought the child would not live three weeks up 
there. How does she look, Brigitte?” 


WITH THE GRANDMOTHER 


65 


Brigitte had been examining the child so curi- 
ously from every side that she was well prepared 
to answer her mother’s question. 

“She is slenderly built, like her mother, Adel- 
heid,” she replied; “but she has black eyes and 
curly hair like Tobias and like the old man up yon- 
der. I think she looks like both of them.” 

During this conversation Heidi was not idle; 
she had looked all around the room and noticed 
everything. Now she said: — 

“See, grandmother! There is a shutter swing- 
ing back and forth over there. If grandfather 
were here he would drive in a nail so that it could 
be fastened back. If it slams so it may break a 
pane of glass. See, now!” 

“Oh, you dear child!” said the grandmother, “I 
cannot see it, but I can hear it only too well, and 
not the shutter only! When the wind blows, 
everything creaks and rattles ; and it comes in 
through the cracks, too, for nothing is tight and 
fast in the old house, and at night, when the others 
are asleep, I am often so anxious for fear it may 
come tumbling about our ears and kill us all. 
Alas! there is no one to patch up the old place a 
bit, for Peter doesn’t know how.” 

“But why can’t you see how the shutter swings, 
grandmother? There it goes again! See, right 
over there!” exclaimed Heidi, pointing to the 
shutter with her finger. 


66 


HEIDI 


“Ah, child! I cannot see anything, not a thing; 
not the shutter nor anything else,” said the old 
woman sadly. 

“But if I go out and open all the shutters wide 
so that the light can come in, will you see then, 
grandmother?” 

“No, no! not even then. No one can ever make 
it light for me again.” 

But if you go out doors where everything is 
white with snow, there it must surely be light for 
you. Come, grandmother, come out with me, and 
let me show you.” 

W^ith that Heidi took the old woman by the 
hand to draw her toward the door, for the child 
was beginning to feel terribly distressed because 
the grandmother could nowhere find the light. 

“Let me stay where I am, you good child! It 
will always be dark for me; out in the snow, or 
anywhere else, no matter how much light there is, 
for it cannot enter my eyes.” 

“But in the summer time, grandmother, surely,” 
urged Heidi, seeking still more anxiously for 
some happy way out of her trouble ; “when the sun 
shines down so hot, and then says ‘good-night’ to 
the mountains so that they shine like fire, and all 
the little golden flowers glitter, then it will grow 
light for you again, surely.” 

“Ah, child! I shall never see them again, the 


WITH THE GRANDMOTHER 


67 


beautiful, glowing mountains, and the bright yel- 
low flowers up yonder. It will never again be 
light for me on earth, never again!” 

On hearing this, Heidi began to cry bitterly. 
In deep distress she sobbed out: — 

“Who can make it light for you, then? Can no 
one? No one at all?” 

It was now the grandmother’s turn to comfort 
the child, but that was not so easily done. Heidi 
seldom cried, but when she once began, it took her 
a long time to master her grief. The grand- 
mother tried in various ways to soothe her, for it 
went to the old woman’s heart to hear the child 
sob so ; at length she said : — 

“Come, you good little Heidi, come here to me! 
I want to tell you something. To those who can- 
not see, a cheery word is very pleasant, and it is 
a great happiness to me to hear you talk. Come, 
sit down beside me, and tell me what you and your 
grandfather do up yonder. I used to know him 
well; but it has been many a year since I have 
heard anything about him except what Peter tells, 
and he never says much.” 

This gave Heidi a new idea. Quickly wiping 
away her tears, she said consolingly: — 

“Just wait, grandmother; I will tell grandfa- 
ther all about it, and then he will make it light for 
you again, I am sure. And he will not let the hut 


68 


HEIDI 


fall to pieces, either. He can make everything 
right again, I know.” 

To this the old woman made no reply. Heidi 
then began to tell her in a very lively manner all 
about her life with her grandfather, and especially 
about her days up on the pasture; then how she 
and her grandfather spent the winter days to- 
gether, and how he made all kinds of things out 
of wood — benches and chairs and nice cribs into 
which to put hay for Swanli and Bearli; and a fine 
new tub in which she would take her bath next 
summer, and a new little bowl for her milk, be- 
sides a number of spoons. As she went on she 
grew more and more eager to tell of all the beauti- 
ful things that her grandfather could make out of 
a piece of wood, and how much she liked to stand 
by and watch him, and how some day she meant 
to make such things herself. 

To all this the grandmother listened very at- 
tentively, only exclaiming from time to time:— 

‘‘Do you hear that, Brigitte?” or “Did you hear 
what she said about the Alm-Uncle, daughter?” 

Suddenly the story was interrupted by a loud 
noise at the door, and Peter came stamping into 
the room, but stopped short with his round eyes 
opened to an astonishing size as he caught sight of 
Heidi; when he heard her quick “Good-afternoon, 
Peter,” his face broadened into the friendliest of 
grimaces. 


WITH THE GRANDMOTHER 


69 


“Is it possible that it is time for him to be home 
from school!’’ exclaimed the grandmother in great 
surprise. “It has been many a year since an after- 
noon has passed as quickly as has this one. Good- 
evening, Peterli! How did you get on with your 
reading?” ^ 

“ J ust the same,” was Peter’s reply. 

“Dear me!” said his grandmother with a little 
sigh; “I thought perhaps there might be a change 
now that you will be twelve years old in Feb- 
ruary.” 

“Why should there be a change, grandmother?” 
asked Heidi with quick interest. 

“I only meant that I had hoped he might after 
all learn it — ^learn to read, I mean,” said the grand- 
mother. “Somewhere on that shelf lies my old 
prayer-book in which there are many beautiful 
hymns that I have not heard for a long time, and 
I do not know them by heart any more; so I had 
hoped that Peterli would learn to read, and then, 
once in a while, he could read me a good hymn. 
But he cannot learn; it is too hard for him.” 

“I think We must have a light ; it is getting quite 
dark,” said Peter’s mother, who had been busy 
with the mending of his blouse all the while. “For 
me, too, the afternoon has slipped by before I was 
aware of it.” 

When Heidi heard this she jumped up, and 
holding out her hand, said: — 


70 


HEIDI 


“Good-night, grandmother! I must go home 
at once if it is getting dark.” 

After shaking hands with Peter and his mother, 
she went to the door. But the grandmother’s anx- 
ious voice called after her: — 

“Wait, Heidi! Wait! You must not go all 
alone. Peter will go with you ; do you hear? And 
Peterli, take good care of the child; see that she 
doesn’t fall; and don’t let her stand still, else she 
will get chilled. Do you hear? And has she a 
good warm neckerchief round her?” 

“I haven’t any neckerchief; but I shall not be 
cold,” Heidi called back as she slipped through the 
door, and then sped on so quickly that Peter could 
hardly keep up with her. 

“Run after her, Brigitte, run!” cried the grand- 
mother in alarm. “The child will be cold — to be 
out so at night ! Here, take my kerchief, and run 
quickly !” 

Brigitte did as she was told. But the children 
had taken only a few steps up the mountain when 
they saw the grandfather coming down, and with 
a few long strides he was beside them. 

“That’s right, Heidi ; you have kept your word,” 
said he, and wrapping the child in her heavy cov- 
erlet, he picked her up and went up the mountain. 
Brigitte was just in time to see him turn toward 
home with the child, wrapped in her warm blanket. 


WITH THE GRANDMOTHER 


71 


on his arm. Peter and his mother went back into 
the hut, and, in great surprise, Brigitte told what 
she had seen to the grandmother. She, too, was 
much astonished, and exclaimed over and over 
again : — 

God be praised that the old man is so good to 
her! God be praised and thanked! If he will 
only let her come again; for the child was such a 
joy to me! What a good heart she has, and how 
amusing her talk is !” 

All through the evening the old woman was 
cheered by the thought of Heidi’s visit, and ex- 
claimed repeatedly: — 

If she only comes again! Then I shall again 
have something in this world to which I can look 
forward with pleasure.” 

Brigitte agreed with her mother in everything 
she said, and Peter also nodded his approval while, 
with a broad grin of satisfaction, he said: — 

‘T knew it.” 

Meanwhile Heidi, from within her coverlet, was 
talking to her grandfather just as fast as she 
could; but since her voice could hardly be heard 
through the eight thicknesses of linen, he could not 
understand a word. So he said: — 

“Wait a bit, until we reach home, and then tell 
me.” 

As soon as they were in the hut, and her grand- 


72 


HEIDI 


father had unwound the bag from around her, 
Heidi began: — 

“Grandfather, to-morrow we must take the ham- 
mer and some big nails and mend the shutter down 
at the grandmother’s, and drive nails in a good 
many other places; for everything creaks and rat- 
tles down there.” 

“Oh, indeed I We must, we must, eh? Who 
said so?” 

“Oh, no one said so. I know it, though,” re- 
plied Heidi. “Everything is going to pieces 
down there, and the grandmother is so afraid at 
night when she cannot sleep and it rattles so. 
Then she thinks: ‘Now everything is going to come 
tumbling about our heads.’ And oh, grandfather! 
nobody can make it light for the grandmother! 
She doesn’t know how it could be done; but you 
can do it, grandfather, can’t you? Just think 
how sad it is that she is always in the dark, and 
then gets frightened besides! And nobody can 
help her, but you. To-morrow we will go 
down and help her; we will, grandfather, won’t 
we?” 

Heidi was clinging to her grandfather and look- 
ing up to him with unquestioning faith. The old 
man looked down at the child for a moment, and 
then said: — 

“Yes, Heidi; we wiU stop the rattling down at 


WITH THE GRANDMOTHER 


73 


the grandmother’s. So much we can do, and to- 
morrow it shall be done.” 

Heidi was so delighted that she danced about 
the room, crying: — 

“To-morrow it shall be done! To-morrow it 
shall be done!” 

Her grandfather was as good as his word. On 
the following afternoon the sled carried them down 
the mountain again, and, as on the day before, the 
old man set the child down in front of Goat- 
Peter’s house and said: “Now run in, and when 
it grows dark come out here.” Then he laid the 
bag on the sled and disappeared with it around the 
corner of the house. 

Hardly had Heidi opened the door and run into 
the room, when the grandmother called out from 
her corner: “That must be the child! Here 
comes the child!” And so pleased was she that 
she dropped her thread and stopped her wheel to 
hold out both hands to her little friend. 

Heidi ran to her, and drawing up a little stool 
sat down beside her and at once found much to tell 
her and many questions to ask. But suddenly 
they heard the sound of heavy blows against the 
house, which so frightened the grandmother that 
she started up from her spinning wheel and nearly 
upset it, as she cried out in a trembling voice : — 

“Oh dear, oh dear! Here it comes! Every- 
thing is coming down on us!” 


74 


HEIDI 


But Heidi caught her by the arm and said 
soothingly : — 

“No, no, grandmother; don’t he afraid; it is 
only grandfather with his hammer. He is mak- 
ing everything fast and tight, so that you will not 
be frightened any more.” 

“Oh, is it possible! Is even that possible! 
Then the dear Lord has not forgotten us after 
all!” cried the grandmother. “Did you hear, 
Brigitte? Did you hear what it is? It is, indeed, 
a hammer ! Go out, Brigitte, and if it is the Aim- 
Uncle, ask him to step in a moment, so that I may 
thank him myself.” 

Brigitte went out and found the Aim-Uncle 
driving new clamps into the wall with heavy blows. 
Stepping up to him, she said : — 

“I wish you a very good evening. Uncle, and so 
does mother; and we want to thank you for the 
trouble you are taking for us; and mother would 
be glad if you would step in, that she may tell you 
so herself. Indeed, it is not every one who would 
do as much for us, and we will remember it, for 
surely”' — 

“Cut it short,” interrupted the old man. 
“What you think of the Aim-Uncle I know well 
enough. You may as well go back into the house. 

I can find what needs to he done myself.” 

Brigitte went in at once, for the Alm-Uncle had 


WITH THE GRANDMOTHER 


75 


a way that made it seem pleasanter to obey than to 
disobey him. All the afternoon he hammered and 
mended away at the little house, even climbing up 
the narrow stairs that brought him under the roof, 
where he kept hammering until he had used his 
very last nail. In the meantime it had begun to 
grow dark, and he had scarcely had time to climb 
down and go after the sled which he had put be- 
hind the goat-stable, when the door opened and 
out came Heidi. As on the previous day, her 
grandfather bundled her up well and carried her 
up the mountain, dragging his sled after him; for 
he knew well enough that if she sat alone on the 
sled, her warm wrap would not stay around her 
and she would be in danger of freezing. 

And so the winter passed. After many years 
of darkness, in which the long days had been spent 
one like the other, a ray of gladness had come to 
brighten the joyless life of the blind old grand- 
mother; for now she always had something to look 
forward to with pleasure. From early morning 
she listened for the child’s tripping footstep, and 
when the door opened, and Heidi really came 
skipping into the room, she never failed to call out 
joyfully:— 

“Praise God! Here she comes again!” 

Then Heidi would sit down beside her and talk 
to her so gaily about all she had seen and heard that 


76 


HEIDI 


the grandmother grew quite light-hearted, and the 
hours passed so quickly that she never asked as 
she used to: “Brigitte, isn’t the day nearly over?” 
But instead, whenever the door closed after Heidi, 
she would say: “What a short afternoon it has 
been! Didn’t you find it so, Brigitte?” To 
which her daughter always replied: “Indeed I 
did; it seems to me as though we had just put away 
the dinner dishes.” 

Then the grandmother would add earnestly: — 

“I pray the dear Lord may keep the child in 
good health, and the Alm-Uncle well-disposed to- 
ward me. Does she look well, Brigitte?” And 
the answer was always: “Her cheeks are as 
round and red as an apple’s.” 

Heidi had grown very fond of the old grand- 
mother, too, and whenever she remembered that 
no one, not even her grandfather, could make it 
light for her poor old friend, a great sadness came 
over her; but then the grandmother would always 
tell her that she suffered least from her blindness 
when her little Heidi was at her side. 

And so all through the winter not a bright day 
passed without bringing Heidi down on her sled, 
and since her grandfather always took his ham- 
mer and many more things with him, and often 
spent the whole afternoon mending the little house, 
the creaking and rattling soon stopped, and the 


WITH THE GRANDMOTHER 


77 


grandmother often said that many a long year had 
passed since she had slept as well as she did this 
winter, and that she would never forget the Alm- 
Uncle’s kindness. 


CHAPTER V 


TWO VISITS AND WHAT CAME OF THEM 

Q uickly the winter passed, and more 
quickly still the happy summer season that 
followed; and now another winter was 
nearing its end. Heidi was as gay and happy as 
the birds of the air, and with each passing day was 
looking forward more eagerly to the approaching 
days of spring when the southwind would come 
sweeping through the pines and drive away the 
snow; when the warm sunshine would call forth 
the blue and yellow flowers, and bring again the 
beautiful pasture days that gave Heidi more joy 
than did anything else on earth. 

The child was now in her eighth year and had 
learned much that is useful from her grandfather; 
she could care for the goats as well as any one, 
and Swanli and Bearli followed her like two faith- 
ful little dogs, and bleated loudly for joy when 
they but heard her voice. 

Twice during this winter Peter had brought the 
Alm-Uncle a message from the school-master in 
Dorfli, saying that it was time that the child who 
lived with him be sent to school, for she was past 
the age for beginners and ought to have gone to 

78 


TWO VISITS 


79 


school the winter before. In reply the Uncle had 
sent word that the school-master would find him at 
home if he had anything to say to him, but that he 
did not intend to send the child to school. This 
message Peter had delivered correctly. 

March had come and on all the sunny slopes the 
snow had melted; everywhere in the valley below, 
the little white snowdrops were peeping forth, and 
up on the Aim the three great pine trees had 
shaken off their snowy burden and were tossing 
their branches in the wind once more. Heidi was 
so happy that for sheer delight she ran from the 
hut to the goat-stable, and from there to the pine 
trees, and then back again to her grandfather in 
the hut to tell him how much larger the green spot 
under the trees had grown; a moment later she 
was back again under the trees to renew her ob- 
servations, for she could hardly wait until every- 
thing should be green once more and the beautiful 
summer return to the mountain and clothe its 
slopes with grass and fiowers. 

One sunny March morning as Heidi was thus 
merrily running hither and thither, and was 
bounding out of the door for about the tenth time, 
she nearly fell backward into the room from 
fright, for just outside stood an old gentleman all 
in black, looking down at her very earnestly. 
When he saw how frightened she was, he said 
kindly : — 


80 


HEIDI 


“You need not be afraid of me, little girl, for I 
love children. Come, shake hands with me. You 
are Heidi, I suppose; now where is your grand- 
father?” 

“He is at his bench carving round spoons out of 
a piece of wood,” replied Heidi, opening the door 
for him. 

It was the good old pastor from Dorfli who had 
once known the Alm-Uncle well, for he had been 
his neighbor in the years before he left his home. 
He stepped into the hut and going toward the old 
man who was bending over his carving, said: — 

“Good-morning, neighbor!” 

The Alm-Uncle looked up in surprise, and, ris- 
ing, said: — 

“Good-morning to you, Herr Pastor!” Then 
pushing his chair toward his visitor he added: 
“If the Herr Pastor does not object to a wooden 
seat he is welcome to this one.” 

When he had seated himself, the pastor said: — 

“It is a long time since last I saw you, neigh- 
bor.” 

“It is quite as long since I have seen the Herr 
Pastor,” was the reply. 

“I have come to-day to speak to you about some- 
thing,” the pastor began again. “I have no doubt 
you know what it is that has brought me, and I 
would like to hear what you intend to do with re- 
gard to it.” 


TWO VISITS 


81 


Here the good man stopped and glanced at the 
child who was standing in the doorway looking at 
the newcomer with great interest. 

“Heidi, go and look after the goats. You may 
take a little salt with you and stay with them until 
I come.” 

Heidi went at once. 

“The child might have gone to school a year 
ago, and certainly should have been sent this win- 
ter,” said the pastor now. “The school-master 
called your attention to this some time ago, but 
you have not heeded his warning. What do you 
mean to do with the child, neighbor?” 

“I do not mean to send her to school,” was the 
reply. 

The Herr Pastor gave a glance of surprise at 
the old man sitting on his bench with folded arms, 
and looking far from submissive. 

“What do you intend to make of her?” 

“Nothing; she grows and thrives up here with 
the goats and the birds. She is happy with them, 
and they teach her no evil.” 

“But the child' is neither a goat nor a bird, hut a 
human being; and if she learns no evil from these 
companions, neither does she learn anything use- 
ful. But she ought to learn something, and it is 
time that she began. I came to remind you of 
this in time, neighbor, so that you may think it 


82 


HEIDI 


over during the coming summer, and make your 
plans. This is the last year in which the child can 
go entirely without instruction. Next winter she 
must be sent to school, and regularly.” 

“I’ll not do it, Herr Pastor,” said the old man 
stubbornly. 

“Do you really suppose, then, that there is no 
way of bringing you to your senses, if you persist 
in your unreasonable course?” asked the pastor 
with some irritation. “You have been about in 
the world and have seen much and might have 
learned much. I gave you credit for better sense, 
neighbor.” 

“Indeed!” replied the old man, and his voice 
showed that he, too, was not as calm as he had 
been. “And does the Herr Pastor really expect 
that next winter I will send so young a child on a 
two hours’ journey down the mountain every cold 
and bitter morning, through storm and snow, to 
come back again in the evening when it is often 
hard enough for us men to fight our way through 
wind and snow? And a child like Heidi! Per- 
haps the Herr Pastor remembers her mother, 
Adelheid? She walked in her sleep, and had 
strange nervous attacks. Shall I let the child run 
the risk of getting a like trouble from exposure? 
Just let them try to force me to it! I will go into 
every court in the land with her, and then we shall 
see who can compel me.” 


TWO VISITS 


83 


You are quite right, neighbor,’’ said the pastor 
in a friendly tone ; it would not be possible to send 
the child to school from here. But since you are 
evidently fond of the little one, why will you not 
do for her sake what you should have done long 
ago? Come down into Dorfli, and live with your 
fellow-men again. What a life you lead up here, 
all alone, and at enmity with God and man! 
Should something happen to you up here, who 
would there be to do anything for you? And in 
the winter time I should think you would nearly 
freeze here in this hut; and how that delicate child 
can endure it, is more than I can understand.” 

“The child has fresh young blood, and a good 
warm coverlet, of that the Herr Pastor can be 
sure; and, moreover, I know where there is wood 
to be got, and if the Herr Pastor will look into my 
shed, he will not find it empty; in this hut the fire 
is never allowed to go out all winter long. What 
the Herr Pastor suggests about going down to 
Dorfli is not for me; the people down there de- 
spise me, and I them, so it is better we remain 
apart^better for them and better for me.” 

“No, no; it is not better for you; I know what 
troubles you,” replied the pastor kindly. “And 
with regard to the Dorfli people’s dislike of you, 
that is not as bad as you think. Take my advice, 
neighbor, — make your peace with God, ask Him 


84 


HEIDI 


to forgive you for that which needs forgiveness, 
and then come down and see how differently the 
people will feel toward you, and how much happi- 
ness there is still in store for you.” 

The pastor arose, and holding out his hand to 
the old man said cordially: — 

‘T shall count on your coming down and being 
one of us again next winter, neighbor, and then 
we will be as good friends as we once were. It 
would grieve me to see force used against you. 
Now give me your hand on it, that you will come 
down and live among us again, at peace with God 
and man.” 

The old man gave his hand to the pastor, but 
said with unyielding determination: — 

“I know the Herr Pastor means well by me, but 
I cannot do what he proposes. The child will not 
be sent to school, nor shall I go to live in the 
village. It is my final decision, and I shall not 
change my mind.” 

“Then God help you,” said the pastor sadly, and 
turning, left the house and went down the moun- 
tain. 

The Aim-Uncle was out of humor. When in 
the afternoon, Heidi asked, “Now shall we go 
down to the grandmother’s?” he answered curtly, 
“Not to-day,” and said not another word all day. 

The next morning when Heidi asked, “Are we 


TWO VISITS 


85 


going down to the grandmother’s to-day?” he 
answered, “We’ll see,” in a tone as short as his 
words. 

But before the dinner dishes had been set away 
another visitor opened the door. It was Aunt 
Dete. On her head was a fine hat with a feather, 
and she wore a dress that swept everything along 
with it as she walked, and on the floor of a herds- 
man’s hut there is likely to be much that is not be- 
coming to the skirt of a dress. 

The Alm-Uncle looked at her from head to foot, 
but said nothing. But Aunt Dete meant that their 
conversation should be a very friendly one, and so 
began it with a word of praise, saying that Heidi 
looked so well that she hardly recognized her, and 
that it was evident that the child had not fared 
badly at her grandfather’s. It had always been 
her intention, however, to relieve him of the little 
one’s care, for she knew very well that a child must 
be in his way; but at the time she had brought her 
to him there had been no other way to dispose of 
her. Ever since then she had been trying to think 
of some way to provide for Heidi. Now she had 
suddenly heard of an opportunity that promised 
such good fortune for the child that she could 
hardly believe it possible, and it was this she had 
come to tell him; for she had followed the matter 
up at once, and now she could say that it was as 


86 


HEIDI 


good as settled, and that Heidi’s good luck was 
such as did not come to one child in a hundred 
thousand. 

The family whom she served, Dete went on to 
say, had some very rich relatives whose home was 
about the handsomest in Frankfort; these people 
had an only daughter who was not well, and 
obliged to spend her days in a wheel chair because 
she was lame besides. The little girl had her les- 
sons at home with a tutor and so was almost always 
alone; this she found very dull, and so she longed 
to have a playmate in the house with her. 

Dete had heard this from the family with whom 
she lived, for they were kindly people, and anxious 
to find a companion for the sick girl, such an one 
as the lady who had charge of the house had de- 
scribed. The lady had said she wanted a child 
that was quite unspoiled, and original in its ways, 
not like the children that were to be found every- 
where. And it was this, Dete continued, that had 
made her think of Heidi; she had therefore gone to 
see the housekeeper at once, and told her about the 
child and its original character, whereupon the lady 
had decided to take the child. 

Now, no one could foresee all the good fortune 
which might come to Heidi; for when she was once 
with these people and they had grown fond of her, 
and something were to happen to the sick girl — 


TWO VISITS 


87 


for no one could tell what might not happen to a 
sickly child — then the family would hardly care 
to be without any child, and in this way the most 
marvelous good luck might — 

“Are you almost through?” interrupted the 
Aim-Uncle, who so far had not said a word. 

“Pshaw!” retorted Dete with a toss of her head, 
“anyone would think I was telling you the most 
ordinary news, and yet there is not a person in all 
Prattigau who would not thank heaven for a 
message such as I am bringing you.” 

“Take your message to whom you will; I want 
none of it,” said the Uncle curtly. 

At this Dete flared up like a rocket. “Oh,” 
she cried, “if that is what you think about it, you 
shall hear what is in my mind, too. The child is 
now eight years old, and knows nothing and can 
do nothing; yet you refuse to send her to school or 
to church, as I was told down in Dorfli. She is 
my only sister’s child, and I am responsible for 
her; and when a child has an opportunity such as 
this, only a person who cares for no one and wishes 
no one well would stand in her way. But I’ll not 
give up, I can assure you; and the people are all 
on my side; there isn’t a person in Dorfli who will 
not help me against you. So I advise you to 
think twice before you go to court about it; there 
are other matters, too, that might be raked up, of 


88 


HEIDI 


which you would be sorry to hear; for when one 
gets into court, many a thing is brought to light 
that might otherwise have been forgotten.’' 

“Silence!” thundered the old man, his eyes 
flashing fire. “Take her and spoil her; but never 
come back here with her again! I never want to 
see her with a befeathered hat on her head or words 
in her mouth such as yours of to-day!” 

With that the old man strode out of the hut. 

“You have made grandfather angry,” said 
Heidi, and her black eyes flashed up at her aunt 
in a way that was far from friendly. 

“Oh, he will soon be all right again. Come on, 
now,” urged her aunt. “Where are your clothes?” 

“I’m not going,” said Heidi. 

“What’s that?” cried Dete impatiently. Then, 
changing her tone somewhat, she continued half 
coaxingly, half angrily: “Come, come, child; you 
don’t know what you are talking about. You’re 
going to have the best time in the world.” 

Then she went to the closet and taking out 
Heidi’s clothes, made a bundle of them. 

“Come, now, get your hat yonder; it doesn’t 
look very pretty, but it will do for this time. Put 
it on, and make haste, so that we can be off.” 

“I’m not going,” Heidi said again. 

“Don’t be as stupid and stubborn as your goats ; 
you must have learned it from them. Can’t you 


TWO VISITS 


89 


understand? Your grandfather is angry now; 
you heard him say that he never wants to see us 
again, so he wants you to go with me, and you must 
not make him more angry. You have no idea how 
beautiful it is in Frankfort, and how many new 
things you will see. And if you don’t like it you 
can go home again; by that time your grandfather 
will not be cross any longer.” 

‘‘Can I turn right round when I want to, and 
get home this evening?” asked Heidi. 

“Oh, nonsense! Come on! Didn’t you hear 
me say that you can go home when you like? To- 
day we are going as far as Mayenfeld, and to- 
morrow morning we’ll take the train, and in that 
you can get back in a twinkling, for it goes so fast 
that it seems to fly along.” 

Aunt Dete had taken Heidi by the hand, and 
the bundle of clothes under her arm, and now the 
two were hurrying down the mountain. 

Since it was too early in the season to take the 
goats to pasture, Peter was still going to the village 
school, or rather, should go, for he was much given 
to taking a holiday every once in a while. “For,” 
thought he, “it is of little use to go to school, and 
reading is of small consequence anyway; to wan- 
der around a bit and cut long fagots is much more 
sensible, for they are of some use.” 

Just now he was coming home from one of these 


90 


HEIDI 


expeditions which must have been very successful, 
for he carried a huge bundle of stout hazel fagots 
over one shoulder as he came in sight. As soon as 
he saw Heidi and her aunt he stopped short and 
stared at them until they were close beside him; 
then he asked: — 

“Where are you going?” 

“I’m just going to Frankfort for a little 
while with Aunt Dete,” Heidi answered; “but first 
I will run in to see the grandmother a minute; she 
is expecting me.” 

“No, no, you can’t do it; we are late as it is,” 
said Dete, tightening her grasp on Heidi’s hand, 
for the child was striving toward the door with all 
her might. “You can go there when you get back. 
Come on, now.” 

So saying Dete drew Heidi quickly along with 
her, never loosening her hold on her, for she feared 
that if the child once got into the house she might 
again make up her mind not to go along, and be 
upheld in it by the grandmother. 

Bursting into the house Peter struck the table 
so violently with his bundle of fagots that every- 
thing in the little room trembled, and his grand- 
mother started up from her spinning wheel with a 
cry of alarm. It was Peter’s way of giving vent 
to his feelings. 

“What is it? What is the matter?” the grand- 


TWO VISITS 


91 


mother inquired anxiously, while his mother, who 
had been sitting by the table, almost flew into the 
air at the loud whack. But she only said with her 
usual patience:^ 

“What is the matter, Peterli? What makes you 
so furious?” 

“Because she has taken Heidi away,” was 
Peter’s explanation. 

“Who, who? Where, Peterli? Where?” asked 
his grandmother in fresh alarm. Remembering 
that her daughter had told her only a little while 
ago that she had seen Dete going up the moun- 
tain, she soon guessed what had taken place, and 
hurrying to the window she threw it open, and in a 
voice trembling with excitement cried beseech- 
ingly:— 

“Dete, Dete, don’t take the child away. Please 
don’t take Heidi away from usl” 

The two who were hurrying away so fast heard 
her voice, and, no doubt, Dete guessed what she 
was saying, for she held on to Heidi’s hand still 
more tightly and ran as fast as she could. Heidi 
struggled to free herself while she cried: — 

“Grandmother is calling me! I must go to 
her!” 

But that was just what her aunt meant she 
should not do, and so tried to pacify her by telling 
her to hurry along now so that they would not be 


92 


HEIDI 


too late to take the train in the morning; then she 
could see for herself how much she would like 
Frankfort — so much that she would never want to 
go away. But if she wished to go home after all, 
she could start right off, only stopping long 
enough to get something for the grandmother^^ 
something that she would like. 

This prospect pleased Heidi; she stopped pull- 
ing back, and straightway began to run along with 
Dete. 

“What can I bring the grandmother?” she asked 
after a while. 

“Something good,” said her aunt; “some nice 
soft white rolls. She will like them, for she can 
hardly bite the hard black bread.” 

“Yes, that’s true, she always gives it to Peter, 
and says: Tt is too hard for me.’ I have seen her 
do it myself,” said Heidi. “Let us go quickly. 
Aunt Dete, then perhaps we can get to Frankfort 
to-day, and I can soon be home again with the 
rolls.” 

At this thought Heidi began to run so fast that 
her aunt, with her bundle under her arm, could 
scarcely keep up with her. But she was glad 
enough to hurry along so swiftly, for they were 
now among the first straggling houses of Dorfli, 
where there was danger of renewed questions and 
remarks that might suggest inconvenient thoughts 


TWO VISITS 


93 


to Heidi. So she ran on without stopping any- 
where, while Heidi kept a little ahead of her and 
tugged at her hand, so that it was plain to every 
one that Dete was obliged to hurry along on the 
child’s account. To the many questions that were 
called out to her from the open doors and windows 
she had but one answer, saying: “You see I 
cannot stop, the child is in such a hurry, and we 
have still a long way before us.” 

“Are you taking her off? Is she running away 
from the Alm-Uncle? It’s only to be wondered 
the child is still alive! And with such rosy cheeks, 
too!” 

With these and like remarks Dete was greeted 
on every side, and she was thankful to get through 
without either hindrance or the necessity of fur- 
ther explanation; as also that Heidi said nothing, 
but only pressed forward with all speed. 

From this day forth the Alm-Uncle looked more 
forbidding than ever when he came down to Dorfli 
or passed through on his way to the valley below, 
where he sold his cheeses and bought his provisions 
of bread and meat, for he would trade with no one 
in Dorfli. He spoke to no one in the village, and 
with his cheese basket on his back, a long stick in 
his hand, and his thick eyebrows drawn together 
in a frown, he looked so flerce that mothers warned 
their children against him, saying: “Be careful 


94 


HEIDI 


to keep out of the Alm-Uncle’s way, or he may 
hurt you.” 

After he had gone through Dorfli in this way 
the people stood in little groups wherever he had 
passed, and everyone had something to say about 
his appearance; that he looked fiercer than ever 
and did not so much as return a greeting now-a- 
days. They all agreed that the child was very 
lucky to have escaped from him, and that it had 
been plain to see how eager she was to get away, 
as though she feared the old man might follow her 
and carry her back. 

Only the blind old grandmother stood by the 
Alm-Uncle; she always told everyone who came 
up to the house with wool to spin, or to get the fin- 
ished yarn, how kind and careful he had been with 
the child, and how much he had done for her and 
her daughter; how many afternoons he had spent 
in mending the old house which, without his care, 
might have been a heap of rubbish by this time. 
And so it came about that rumors of this kind also 
reached Dorfii; but most people who heard them 
replied that the grandmother was probably too old 
to understand the matter rightly, and that, since 
she could not see, she very likely could not hear 
ivery well either. 

But the Alm-Uncle never appeared at Goat- 
Peter’s home now-a-days; and it was well that he 


TWO VISITS 


95 


had mended the little house so thoroughly, for now 
it would last a long time without any further 
repairs. 

To the blind old grandmother the days that she 
began with a sigh had come again, and never one 
passed on which she did not say mournfully: — 

‘‘Alas! the child has taken all our cheer and 
happiness with her ; the days are so long and empty 
now! God grant I may hear Heidi’s voice again 
before I die!” 


CHAPTER VI 

A NEW CHAPTER AND NEW SCENES 

I N the house of Herr Sesemann in Frankfort 
his little invalid daughter, Klara, sat among 
her cushions in the eomfortahle reclining 
chair in which she spent her days and in which she 
was wheeled from one room to another. At 
present she was in the so-called study adjoining 
the large dining-room. In it were to he seen all 
the many things that make a room comfortable 
and cosey, showing that this was where the family 
spent most of the day. A large and handsome 
bookcase with glass doors told plainly how the 
room had come by its name, and also that this was 
probably where the little lame girl received her 
daily instruetion. 

The child had a thin, pale little face out of 
which looked a pair of gentle blue eyes that at the 
present moment were fixed on the face of the large 
cloek whose hands seemed to move especially 
slowly to-day; for Klara, who was seldom im- 
patient, now said in a tone that showed she was 
considerably so: — 

“Isn’t it time for them to he here yet, Fraulein 
Rottenmeier?” 


96 


A NEW CHAPTER AND NEW SCENES 97 


The lady spoken to was sitting very erect at 
a little work table, embroidering. She wore a 
mysterious sort of wrap, a kind of cape or mantilla 
which gave her a majestic appearance that was 
heightened by a domelike structure which she wore 
on her head. For a number of years, ever since 
the death of Klara’s mother, Fraulein Rotten- 
meier had been at the head of Herr Sesemann’s 
establishment, directing the housekeeping and 
having entire charge of the servants. The master 
of the house was necessarily away from home a 
large part of the time, and left the whole care of it 
to Fraulein Rottenmeier, with the one stipulation 
that his little daughter should have a voice in all 
matters, and that nothing should be done in oppo- 
sition to her wishes. 

While Klara was impatiently asking FrMein 
Rottenmeier for the second time whether it was not 
yet time for those whom she expected to arrive, 
Dete was standing at the front door holding Heidi 
by the hand and asking the coachman, Johann, 
who had just stepped down from the carriage, 
whether she might venture to disturb Fraulein 
Rottenmeier at this late hour. 

‘‘That’s not my business,” growled the coach- 
man; “step into the hall and ring for Sebastian.” 

Dete did as she was told and Sebastian ap- 
peared; he had big round buttons on the coat of 


98 


HEIDI 


his livery, and eyes that were nearly as big and 
round in his head. 

“I would like to know whether I may venture 
to disturb Fraulein Rottenmeier at this hour,” 
said Dete again. 

“That’s not my business,” replied Sebastian; 
“ring for the maid, Tinette — ^that bell over there,” 
and without offering any further information 
Sebastian disappeared. ^ 

Dete rang again, and at the head of the stairs 
appeared Tinette, wearing a little square of daz- 
zlingly white muslin on her head, and a look of 
scorn on her face. 

“What’s wanted?” she asked, without leaving her 
place at the top of the stairs. Dete repeated her 
request, whereupon Tinette disappeared, but soon 
returned and called down: “You are expected.” 

Dete went up stairs holding Heidi by the hand, 
and followed Tinette into the study where she 
remained modestly standing by the door with 
Heidi’s hand still held firmly in her own, for she 
did not know what the child might do in such 
wholly new surroundings. 

Fraulein Rottenmeier rose slowly and came 
nearer to look at this newly arrived companion for 
the daughter of the house. What she saw did not 
seem to please her. Heidi wore her simple cotton 
frock, and on her head was a little straw hat which 


A NEW CHAPTER AND NEW SCENES 99 


was both old and crushed. But it was a very in- 
nocent little face that looked up from beneath it, 
as Heidi gazed with unconcealed wonder at the 
high structure on the lady’s head. 

“What is your name?” asked Fraulein Rotten- 
meier after she had scrutinized the child for some 
moments during which Heidi had not taken her 
eyes off of her. 

“Heidi,” said the child distinctly and in a 
pleasant voice. 

“What? What? That surely can be no Chris- 
tian name. You were not baptized so, were you? 
What is the name you were given in baptism? 

“I don’t remember that now,” replied Heidi. 

“What an answer!” exclaimed the lady with a 
disapproving shake of the head. “Dete, is the 
child simple, or is she pert?” 

“Begging the lady’s pardon, and with her per- 
mission, I will speak for the child, for she is very 
inexperienced,” said Dete as she gave Heidi a sly 
cuff for her unseemly answer. “But she isn’t 
simple, nor is she pert, for she has no idea of such 
a thing; she means no more than she says. This 
is the first time she has been in the house of gentle 
folks and she hasn’t learned to be mannerly. But 
she is obedient and will learn quickly, if the lady 
is a little patient with her. She was baptized 
Adelheid, and named for her mother, who was my 
sister.” 


100 


HEIDI 


“Very well; that is a name that can be pro- 
nounced. But I must say, Dete, the child’s ap- 
pearance is peculiar for one of her age. I told you 
that the companion I desired for Fraulein Klara 
must be of her own age, so that she may receive 
the same instruction and share her occupations. 
Fraulein Klara has passed her twelfth year; how 
old is this child?” 

“Begging the lady’s pardon,” Dete began again 
very glibly, “I was really mistaken about the 
child’s age; she is a little younger than I had 
thought; but not much, I think. I cannot tell 
exactly, but she must be about ten years old, or 
more, I should judge.” 

“I am eight now; grandfather said so,” de- 
clared Heidi, for which she got another cuff from 
her aunt; but as she had not the least idea what it 
was for, it did not embarrass her at all. 

“What? Only eight years old?” exclaimed 
Fraulein Rottenmeier indignantly. “Four years 
too young. That will never do. And what have 
you learned? What books have you studied?” 

“None,” said Heidi. 

“What ? What’s that ? How then did you learn 
to read?” inquired the lady further. 

“I did not learn, and neither did Peter,” Heidi 
informed her. 

“For pity’s sake! You cannot read! You 


A NEW CHAPTER AND NEW SCENES 101 


really cannot read?’’ cried Fraulein Rottenmeier 
in great dismay. ‘Ts it possible? But what have 
you learned, then?” 

“Nothing,” said Heidi, as the truth demanded. 

“Dete,” said Fraulein Rottenmeier after a short 
pause in which she tried to regain her composure, 
“in no way does this child fulfil our agreement. 
How could you bring the creature here?” 

But Dete was not easily abashed, and she now 
answered boldly: — 

“Begging the lady’s pardon, I thought the child 
was just what was wanted; according to the de- 
scription given me, she was to be original, different 
from other children, and so I had to take this little 
one, for with us the older children are like most 
others; and I thought this one answered the de- 
scription as though made for the place. But now 
I must really go, for my mistress expects me. I 
will come again soon, if I may, to see how the child 
is doing,” and dropping a courtesy, Dete was out 
of the door and down the stairs with all speed. 

FrMein Rottenmeier stood as though dazed for 
a moment and then ran after her. It probably 
occurred to her that if the child was really going to 
stay, there were many things that must be dis- 
cussed with her aunt; for here the child was, and it 
was plain to see, Dete meant she should stay. 

Heidi was still standing in the self-same place 


102 


HEIDI 


by the door. So far Klara had remained a silent 
observer in her reclining chair, but now she beck- 
oned Heidi and said: — 

‘‘Come here to me.” 

Heidi went to her at once. 

“Would you rather be called Heidi or Adel- 
heid?” asked Klara. 

“Heidi is my only name; I haven’t any other, 
was the child’s answer. 

“Then I will always call you so,” said Klara; 
“I like the name for you, it just suits you. I have 
never heard it before; but then, neither have I ever 
seen a child like you before. Has your hair always 
been so short and curly?” 

“Yes, I think so,” said Heidi. 

“Were you glad to come to Frankfort?” Klara 
continued her questioning. 

“Ko, but to-morrow I am going home again 
with some white rolls for the grandmother.” 

“What a curious child you are!” was Klara’s 
astonished exclamation. “Don’t you know that 
you have been brought to Frankfort to stay with 
me, so that we can have our lessons together; and, 
don’t you see, it will be great fun now, for you 
don’t know how to read, and that will make the 
lessons different from any I have ever had. They 
are often so stupid, and sometimes it seems as 
though the morning will never end. For, you see. 


A NEW CHAPTER AND NEW SCENES 103 


the Herr Kandidat comes every morning at ten 
o’clock, and then the lessons begin and last until 
two, and that is a very long time. Many a day I 
have seen the Herr Kandidat draw his book close 
up to his face as though he had suddenly grown 
very short-sighted, but it is only to hide a great, 
big yawn; and Fraulein Rottenmeier, too, often 
takes out her large handkerchief, and buries her 
face in it, as though she were quite overcome by 
what we are reading, but I know she is only yawn- 
ing frightfully behind it. And then I want to 
yawn, too, but I always swallow it down, for if I 
yawn only once, Fraulein Rottenmeier runs after 
the cod liver oil, because, she says, it must be that 
I feel weak. If there is anything dreadful, it is 
to take cod liver oil, and I would much rather 
smother a yawn. But now the lessons will be 
much pleasanter, for I can listen while you learn 
to read.” 

But Heidi shook her head very doubtfully at 
the thought of learning to read. 

“Oh yes, Heidi; of course you must learn to 
read, everybody must. And the Herr Kandidat 
is very kind, too; he is never cross and is always 
willing to explain everything. But you see, 
Heidi, while he is explaining, you will not under- 
stand what he means at all, but you must wait and 
not say anything yourself, for that will only make 


104 


HEIDI 


him explain still more, and then you will under- 
stand even less. But afterward, when you have 
learned all about it, then you will know just what 
he meant.” 

At this moment FrMein Rottenmeier re-en- 
tered the room; she had failed to overtake Dete, 
and was evidently much agitated over it, for she 
had not been able to impress Dete sufficiently with 
all the particulars in which the child did not come 
up to her expectations. Moreover it had been at 
her own suggestion that the child had come, and 
now, that she could think of no way to undo this 
unfortunate step, her irritation grew with every 
moment. 

From the study she went hastily into the dining- 
room, only to return to the study from which she 
hurried back into the dining-room again, where 
she came upon Sebastian standing by the table 
and casting his round eyes over it to see if he had 
forgotten anything. 

“You can finish your great thoughts to-morrow; 
now it is time to get dinner on the table if we are 
to have any to-day,” snapped Fraulein Rotten- 
meier, as she hurried past Sebastian to call Tinette 
in a tone so uninviting that this young person came 
mincing along with steps that were even shorter 
than usual, and as she stood before Fraulein Rot- 
tenmeier, her face wore such a scornful expression, 


A NEW CHAPTER AND NEW SCENES 105 


that the lady did not venture the ill-natured re- 
mark she had on her tongue, which only served to 
increase her irritation. 

“The child’s room must be made ready for her, 
Tinette,” said Fraulein Rottenmeier, striving to 
regain her composure, “Everything is in order, 
but the furniture must be dusted.” 

“It is well worth the trouble,” was Tinette’s 
sarcastic remark as she turned to go. 

Meanwhile Sebastian had thrown open the fold- 
ing doors with no gentle hand, for he was very 
angry, but in Fraulein Rottenmeier’s presence did 
not dare to give vent to his vexation in words* He 
now went very slowly into the study to wheel 
Klara’s chair into the dining-room. He found the 
handle loose, and while he was adjusting it, Heidi 
placed herself before him and looked at him so 
intently that he could not fail to notice it. 

“Well, what do you see that’s so wonderful?” 
he snarled in a tone that he would hardly have used 
had he seen FrMein Rottenmeier who was stand- 
ing in the doorway. She entered the room just 
as Heidi replied: — 

“You look just like Goat-Peter, Herr Sebas- 
tian.” 

In utter horror the housekeeper clasped her 
hands, and with a sigh of despair muttered: 

“Is it possible! Now she is calling the serv- 


106 


HEIDI 


ants ‘Herr’ ! ^ The creature lacks all sense of pro- 
priety.” 

Klara’s chair was now wheeled into the dining- 
room and Sebastian placed his little mistress at 
the table. Fraulein Rottenmeier seated herself 
next to her, and motioned Heidi to take the chair 
opposite. The three were the only ones at din- 
ner, and so there was ample space between them 
for Sebastian to offer his dishes on the tray. Next 
to each plate lay a beautiful white roll, and 
Heidi’s eyes brightened at sight of hers. The re- 
semblance to Peter which she had discovered in 
Sebastian must have won her entire confidence 
for she sat as still as a mouse, not daring to move, 
until he approached her to offer the big platter of 
fried fish; then, pointing to her roll, she asked: — 

“May I have that?” 

Sebastian nodded, at the same time casting a 
side glance at Fraulein Rottenmeier, for he won- 
dered what effect Heidi’s question would have on 
that lady. The child picked up her roll and put 
it quickly into her pocket. Sebastian bit his lip, 
for he wanted to laugh, but he knew that, no mat- 
ter what the temptation, it would not be tolerated. 
Without uttering a word he remained standing at 
Heidi’s place, platter in hand, for his orders did 
not allow him either to speak or to pass on until 


1 Mister. 


A NEW CHAPTER AND NEW SCENES 107 


Heidi had helped herself. The child looked up at 
him wonderingly for a moment, and then asked 

‘‘Am I to have some of that, too?” 

Sebastian nodded again, whereupon Heidi 
said:— “Well, give me some then,” and looked ex- 
pectantly down at her plate. Sebastian bit his lip 
furiously and the tray in his hand shook in an 
alarming manner. 

“You may set the fish on the table, and come 
back later,” said Fraulein Rottenmeier severely. 

Sebastian disappeared at once. 

“I see, Adelheid, that I must teach you the very 
first principles of good behavior,” began Fraulein 
Rottenmeier with a deep sigh, “and first of all I 
will show you how to conduct yourself at table.” 

Hereupon the housekeeper went through a 
dumb show of helping herself from dishes that 
were presented, so that Heidi might see just how 
it ought to be done. “And further,” she con- 
tinued, “you must not speak to Sebastian at meal 
time, in fact never, except to give him an order, 
or to ask a necessary question. And above all, 
you are not to call him Herr; say only Sebastian 
or you. Never let me hear you address him in any 
other way. Tinette you call simply Tinette, and 
you may address me as you hear the others do; 
how Klara wishes you to call her she will tell you 
herself.” 


108 


HEIDI 


“Klara, of course,” said the little invalid. 

Now followed a long lecture on good behavior — 
how to get up and how to go to bed, how to enter 
a room and how to leave it, about closing doors 
and good order in general — to all of which Heidi 
listened until she could keep her eyes open no 
longer; for she had risen that morning at five, and 
had made a long journey. With her head against 
the back of her chair she was soon sleeping soundly. 
When at length Fraulein Rottenmeier had fin- 
ished her instructions she said: — 

“Now remember what I have told you, Adel- 
heid; do you think you understand it all?” 

“Heidi has been fast asleep this long time,” 
said Klara with a look of great amusement on her 
face ; for it had been many a day since the dinner 
hour had been so entertaining. 

“The vexation that I have to suffer on account 
of that child is beyond belief,” exclaimed Fraulein 
Rottenmeier in deep indignation, and then rang 
the bell so violently that both Sebastian and 
Tinette came rushing into the room. In spite of 
all this noise, Heidi slept on, and it was only with 
great difficulty that she could be roused suffi- 
ciently to be conducted through the study, and 
past Klara’s and FrMein Rottenmeier’s rooms 
to the corner chamber which was to be hers. 


CHAPTER VII 

THE HOUSEKEEPER HAS A DAY OF VEXATION 

W HEN Heidi opened her eyes on her first 
morning in Frankfort she wondered at all 
the strange things she saw about her. She 
rubbed her eyes vigorously, and then looked again, 
only to behold the selfsame things she had seen be- 
fore. She was sitting in a high white bed that 
stood in a large room; where the light entered, 
hung long white draperies; on either side of the 
bed stood an easy chair with huge flowers on it; 
beyond, against one wall was a sofa with some 
more flowers of the same kind, and in front of it 
stood a round table; in one corner she saw a wash- 
stand with many things on it of whose use she 
knew nothing. 

But soon she remembered that she was in Frank- 
fort, and all that had happened the day before; 
she could even recall quite clearly the many in- 
structions the lady had given her, so far as she had 
heard them. 

Heidi sprang out of bed to dress herself, and 
as soon as she had finished, ran to one of the win- 
dows and then to the other; she wanted to see the 
sky and the earth outside, for behind these heavy 

109 


110 


HEIDI 


curtains she felt as though she were in a cage. 
She tried to draw them aside, and when she found 
she could not, she crept behind them so as to get 
closer to the window. But it was so far up that 
her head was just high enough to allow her to look 
out. But she did not find what she sought, and so 
ran back to the other window ; but all she saw was 
a brick wall with many windows, and beyond it, 
more walls and more windows. 

Heidi began to feel uneasy. It was very early, 
for at her grandfather’s she always rose with the 
sun, and then ran out of doors at once to see 
whether the sky was blue and the sun shining; 
whether the little flowers had opened their eyes 
and the tall pine trees were swaying in the wind. 
As a little bird that finds itself for the first time 
behind gilded bars flies back and forth in vain en- 
deavor to slip between them and regain its life of 
freedom, so Heidi ran from one window to the 
other in the hope of finding some way to open it, 
for she felt sure that beyond these walls and win- 
dows there must be green grass to be seen on the 
earth below, and beyond, on the sloping hill-sides, 
the last patches of melting snow; and it was this 
that Heidi longed to see. 

But the windows refused to yield, no matter how 
hard she pushed and pulled, or tried to thrust her 
little fingers under the sash to get a firmer hold. 


A DAY OF VEXATION 


111 


and so succeeded. Everything was as firm and 
unyielding as though made of iron. After a long 
time she concluded that her efforts were useless 
and so gave them up; then she wondered whether 
by going out of the house, and running behind all 
those walls, she would find the grass and trees, 
for she remembered that in entering the house on 
the evening before, she had walked only on stones. 
But now she heard a knock at the door, and then 
it opened, and she caught sight of Tinette’s head 
and heard her say: — 

“Breakfast ready!” 

To Heidi these words by no means meant an in- 
vitation to come down and eat; on the contrary, 
the maid’s scornful face seemed to give warning 
not to come too near her much more plainly than 
a bidding to follow her; Heidi understood the look 
on Tinette’s face much better than the words she 
spoke, and acted accordingly. She drew the little 
footstool out from under the table, placed it in 
one corner of the room and sat down on it; then 
she waited very quietly to see what would happen 
next. After a while she heard something come, 
and with a great deal of noise; it was Fraulein 
Rottenmeier who was excited again, and called 
into Heidi’s room: — 

“What is the matter, Adelheid? Don’t you un- 
derstand what breakfast means? Come along!” 


112 


HEIDI 


What this meant Heidi knew very well and rose 
at once to follow her into the dining-room where 
Klara was already at the table; she greeted Heidi 
with a pleasant “Good-morning.” The little in- 
valid’s face wore a much more cheerful look than 
usual, in anticipation of all the curious things that 
were likely to happen during the day. 

The breakfast passed without any disturbance, 
for Heidi ate her bread and butter very properly; 
when it was over, Klara was wheeled into the 
study, and Fraulein Rottenmeier told Heidi to 
follow her and remain with her until the arrival 
of the Herr Kandidat, when the lessons would 
begin. As soon as the two children were alone 
together Heidi said: 

“Where can I find a place to look out and all 
the way down to the ground?” 

“Open any of the windows, and look out, to be 
sure,” was Klara’s amused reply. 

“But the windows can’t be opened,” said Heidi 
in a despondent tone. 

“Oh, yes, they can,” said Klara, reassuringly; 
“you are not strong enough, and I cannot help 
you; but Sebastian will open one for you if you 
ask him.” 

It was a great relief to Heidi to learn that the 
windows could be opened, and that she could look 
out; for the feeling of being imprisoned within 


A DAY OF VEXATION 


113 


four walls that she had first felt in her chamber 
had not left her. 

Klara now asked Heidi many questions about 
her home, which the child gladly answered, telling 
of her life on the Aim with her grandfather and 
the goats ; of the days up on the pasture, and of all 
the many things that were so dear to her. 

Meanwhile the tutor had arrived, but Fraulein 
Rottenmeier did not as usual conduct him at once 
into the study, but led the way to the dining-room, 
where she seated herself beside him and in great 
excitement told him of the unfortunate plight in 
which she found herself, and how it had been 
brought about. 

She related how some time ago she had written 
to Herr Sesemann, who was then in Paris, that it 
had long been the wish of his little daughter to 
have a playmate in the house, and that she herself 
believed that a companion would increase Klara’s 
interest in her studies and would entertain her at 
other times. 

The fact was that FrMein Rottenmeier wished 
to have some one in the house who would relieve 
her of the task of entertaining the little invalid 
whenever she wearied of it herself, which was not 
seldom the case. 

Herr Sesemann had replied that he would be 
glad to have his daughter’s wish fulfilled, but with 


114 


HEIDI 


the one condition that the new member of the 
household should in every respect be treated as 
though she were his own child, for he would tol- 
erate no cruelty to children in his home. “Which,” 
remarked Fraulein Rottenmeier, “was a very un- 
necessary suggestion, for who had any intention 
of being cruel to children?” 

She then went on to tell how shamefully she had 
been deceived with regard to the child, and related 
all the instances of her utter lack of understanding, 
from which she concluded that the Herr Kandidat 
would have to begin his instructions literally with 
the ABC, while she herself would have to teach 
the child the very first principles of proper be- 
havior. From this unfortunate predicament she 
could see only one way of escape, which was, that 
the Herr Kandidat should declare it to be impos- 
sible to teach two children of such entirely differ- 
ent ability at the same time without great disad- 
vantage to the more advanced pupil. This would 
be regarded by Herr Sesemann as sufficient reason 
to dissolve the agreement, and the child could then 
be sent home at once; for this was a step she 
would not dare to take without his permission, 
now that Herr Sesemann knew the child had 
come. 

The Herr Kandidat, however, was a cautious 
man and never one-sided in his opinions. He tried 


A DAY OF VEXATION 


115 


to comfort Fraulein Rottenmeier with many con- 
soling words and the suggestion that although the 
little girl was so backward in one way, she might 
be so much more advanced in another, and that 
this would soon adjust itself by means of well- 
regulated instruction. 

When Fraulein Rottenmeier saw that the tutor 
would not come to her assistance, but that, on the 
contrary, he was quite willing to teach the ABC, 
she led the way to the study at once and, as soon 
as he had entered, closed the door after him, while 
she herself remained on the other side of it, for 
she had a horror of lessons in A B C. 

In deep thought she now paced the room, for 
she had to decide how the servants were to address 
the newcomer. Herr Sesemann had directed that 
the child was to be treated in every respect like 
his own daughter, and that, thought Fraulein Rot- 
tenmeier, could only have reference to her relation 
to the servants. But she was not allowed to fol- 
low her thoughts long undisturbed, for suddenly 
she heard a loud crash from the direction of the 
study, followed by an anxious call for Sebastian. 
She rushed into the room, and there lay books, ink- 
stands, copy-books, and all the many things neces- 
sary to study in a confused heap on the floor, with 
the table cover on top of all, and a little black 
stream running out from underneath and all the 


116 


HEIDI 


way across the floor. Heidi was nowhere to be 
seen. 

“Oh dear! This is the beginning! Table 
cover, books, work-basket — everything in the ink! 
Never before has such a thing happened. That 
dreadful child is to blame for it, I know!” 

The tutor stood looking down disconsolately at 
the havoc which had been made, and to which even 
he could see only one side, and that a very dis- 
tressing one. But Klara seemed very much 
amused over this very unusual occurrence and its 
effect on the others. 

“Yes, Heidi did it, but quite by accident,” she 
explained at once, “and she must certainly not be 
punished. She was in such a hurry to get away 
that she caught the table cover and dragged it 
with her, and then everything went tumbling after. 
A number of carriages were just passing when 
she jumped up, and she probably wanted to look 
at them, for she may never have seen one before.” 

“There, Herr Kandidat! Isn’t it just as I 
told you?” exclaimed Fraulein Rottenmeier, 
The creature lacks all sense of what is proper. 
She hasn’t the least idea what a lesson is, nor that 
she ought to sit still and listen. But where has 
she gone? Perhaps she has run away! What 
would Herr Sesemann say, if — .” 

With that Fraulein Rottenmeier was out of the 


A DAY OF VEXATION 


117 


door and down the stairs, where she came upon 
Heidi standing at the open door looking up and 
down the street with a puzzled air. 

“What is it? What are you after? How 
dared you run off like this?” asked FrMein Rot- 
tenmeier angrily as soon as she saw the child. 

“I heard the wind in the pine trees, but I can- 
not see them, and now I do not even hear them 
any more,” replied Heidi with a look of disap- 
pointment in her eyes that were turned in the di- 
rection in which the carriages were disappearing. 
To the child the noise had suggested the rush of 
the southwind among the pine trees, and in her 
delight at the familiar tones she had run after 
them. 

“Pine trees? Pine trees? We are not in the 
woods! What foolish notion is this? Come up 
and see what you have done?” So saying Frau- 
lein Rottenmeier went up the stairs with Heidi 
following her. 

When the child saw the destruction she had 
wrought she stood aghast, for in her joy and haste 
to hear the pine trees, she had not noticed that 
she was dragging everything with her. 

“This will be excused once, but not a second 
time,” said Fraulein Rottenmeier sternly, as she 
pointed to the wreck on the floor. “During lesson 
time you are to sit still and pay attention; if you 


118 


HEIDI 


cannot do that of your own accord, I will have to 
tie you to your chair. Do you understand what 

I mean?” ^ ^ 

“Yes,” answered Heidi; “hut I will sit still; 
for by this time she had learned what was expected 
of her. 

Sebastian and Tinette now came in to put things 
in order, and the tutor went home ; for there could 
be no further thought of lessons for that day. 
There had certainly been no temptation to yawn 
this morning. 

In the afternoon Klara always rested for a 
while, and during this time Heidi was free to do as 
she liked; so Fraulein Rottenmeier had told her in 
the morning. 

When dinner was over and Klara had lain down 
to rest in her reclining chair, Fraulein Rotten- 
meier went to her room, and Heidi knew that the 
time had come when she could do as she liked. 
And she was glad of it, for there was something 
she had been longing to do all day. She required 
help, however, and accordingly stationed herself in 
the middle of the hall, so that the one whom she in- 
tended to ask should not escape her. And, as she 
had hoped, Sebastian soon appeared coming up- 
stairs with a large tray on which was the silver 
that had been used at dinner, and was now to be 
returned to the dining-room closet for safekeeping. 


A DAY OF VEXATION 


119 


As soon as he was on the last step Heidi placed 
herself before him and said with great distinct- 
ness 

‘‘Only Sebastian or you!” 

Sebastian’s eyes grew wide with astonishment, 
and then he said in a tone of resentment: — 

“What does this mean, Mamsell?” 

“I would like to ask you something,” said Heidi, 
“but it really is nothing naughty like this morn- 
ing,” she added soothingly, for she saw that Se- 
bastian was vexed, and thought it must be on ac- 
count of the ink she had spilled on the floor. 

“Oh, indeed! And pray, why do you say: 
‘Only Sebastian or you?’ Tell me that first,” said 
Sebastian in as angry a tone as before. 

“I am to say so, always; Fraulein Rottenmeier 
told me so,” was Heidi’s answer. 

Upon hearing this Sebastian laughed so loud 
that Heidi looked up at him in surprise, for she 
had seen nothing to laugh at. But Sebastian had 
understood at once what FrMein Rottenmeier 
had meant, and so was highly amused. 

“Very good,” said he, “now what is it you want, 
Mamsell?” 

It was Heidi who was vexed now. “My name 
is not Mamsell,” said she with some irritation; “it 
is Heidi.” 

“Very true; but the same lady has ordered that 


120 


HEIDI 


I am to call you Mamsell,” explained Sebastian. 

“Oh, has she? Well, then I shall have to be 
called so,” said Heidi in a tone of resignation, for 
she had discovered by this time that everything 
must be done according to FrMein Rottenmeier’s 
orders. “Now I have three names,” she added 
with a little sigh. 

“What did the little Mamsell wish to ask me?” 
inquired Sebastian who was now in the dining- 
room arranging the silver. 

“How can I open a window, Sebastian?” 

“This way,” said Sebastian, as he threw open 
one side of the great window; “this way.” 

Heidi ran to it, but she could see nothing, for 
her head reached only as high as the sill. 

“There,” said Sebastian, as he got a high foot- 
stool and set it under the window; “now the little 
Mamsell can look out and see what there is out 
there.” 

In great delight Heidi climbed up on the foot- 
stool and looked out of the window, but turned 
back at once with a look of great disappointment 
on her face. 

“There is nothing down there but the stony 
street — ^nothing,” said the child dejectedly. “But 
if I go to the other side of the house, what shall 
I see then, Sebastian?” 

“Just tlTe same,” was the reply. 


A DAY OF VEXATION 


121 


But where, then, can I go to look down into 
the valley, and far away?” 

You have to climb up into a high tower, a 
church tower, like that one yonder, with the golden 
ball at the top.” 

Without a moment’s delay Heidi got down 
from the footstool, ran out of the door and down 
the stairs, and was out on the street. But here she 
did not find things as she had expected. In look- 
ing out of the window it had seemed to her that 
she could reach the tower by simply crossing the 
street; but now she went the entire length of it, 
and yet did not find the church, nor could she so 
much as see the tower. She turned down another 
street, and went on and on. Many people passed 
her, but they seemed in such a hurry that she 
thought they would not have time to direct her. 
At length she saw a boy standing on the next 
corner; he carried a hand-organ on his back and 
a curious looking creature on his arm. Heidi ran 
up to him and asked; — 

“Where is the church tower with the golden ball 
on top?” 

“Don’t know,” was the answer. 

“Who can tell me where it is?” Heidi in- 
quired further. 

“Don’t know.” 

“Don’t you know of any other church with a 
high tower?” 


122 


HEIDI 


“Of course I do.” 

“Well, come and show me where it is.” 

“Show me first what you will give me, if I do,” 
said the boy holding out his hand. 

Heidi searched her pocket and brought forth a 
little picture card on which was a beautiful wreath 
of red roses; she looked at it a while, for she re- 
gretted to part with it. Klara had given it to her, 
and she had only had it since morning. But she 
must look down into the valley and far away over 
the green mountain slopes. 

“There!” she said, holding out the picture; 
“would you like that?” 

The boy drew back his hand and shook his head. 

“Well, what do you want?” asked Heidi, glad 
to put her picture back into her pocket. 

“Money.” 

“I haven’t any; but Klara has, and she will give 
me some. How much do you want?” 

“Twenty pfennigs.” 

“Well, come on, then.” 

The two now went down a long street, and on 
the way Heidi asked her companion what he was 
carrying on his back; to this he replied that under 
the cloth was a handsome organ that gave the 
sweetest music, if he but turned the handle. 

All at once the boy stopped, for they were in 
front of an old church with a high tower. 
“There,” said he. 


A DAY OF VEXATION 


123 


“But how can I get in?” asked Heidi, with a 
glance at the tightly closed door. 

“Don’t know,” was the answer. 

“Do you think I can ring, as we do for Se- 
bastian?” 

“Don’t know.” 

Heidi soon discovered a bell on one side of the 
door and gave it a vigorous pull. 

“When I go up, you must wait for me down 
here, for I don’t know the way home, and you must 
show me.” 

“What will you give me, if I do?” 

“What do you want this time?” 

“Twenty pfennigs more.” 

The children now heard the old lock turn, and 
the door opened with a creak; then an old man 
stepped out, and, upon seeing two children, looked 
surprised at first and then rather vexed. 

“How dare you ring the bell and bring me down 
stairs,” he said indignantly. VCan’t you read 
what it says over the bell? ‘Only for those who 
wish to go up into the tower!’ ” 

The boy’s only reply was to point to Heidi, who 
said : — ' 

“That is just what I want to do — ^go up into the 
tower.” 

“What do you want to do up there?” asked the 
tower-keeper. “Did any one send you?” 


124 


HEIDI 


“No,” replied the child; “I want to go up, so 
that I may look down.” 

“Be off with you, and don’t try that joke again; 
for you’ll not get off so easily the next time,” said 
the tower-keeper angrily as he turned to close the 
door. 

But Heidi quickly laid a detaining hand on the 
skirt of his coat, and said pleadingly: — 

“Only this one time, please!” 

He glanced back at her and saw such a beseech- 
ing look in the child’s eyes that he changed his 
mind entirely. Taking her by the hand, he said 
very kindly: — 

“If you care so much to go, I will take you up.” 

The boy sat down on the stone steps outside the 
door to show that he did not mean to go with them, 
but would wait there. 

Holding fast to the tower-keeper’s hand, Heidi 
climbed up many, many steps which soon grew 
narrower and narrower; finally they came to a 
very steep little stairway, and when they had gone 
up this, they were at the top. Then the keeper 
lifted Heidi in his arms and held her up to the 
open window. 

“There,” he said, “now you can put your head 
out of the window and look down.” 

Heidi did so, and saw a sea of roofs, chimneys 
and church-spires spread out beneath her. She 


A DAY OF VEXATION 


125 


soon drew back her head, and said dejectedly: — 
“It isn’t as I thought it would be at all.” 

“There, now! Just as I supposed! What does 
a little thing like you know about a view? Come, 
we’ll go down now, and don’t you ever ring the bell 
to a church-tower again.” 

The keeper set the child on her feet and then 
climbed down the narrow stairs ahead of her. To 
the left of the landing, where the steps grew 
broader, was a door which led to the keeper’s 
room, while on the other side the floor extended to 
where it met the slanting roof. Here stood a 
large basket in front of which sat a big gray cat, 
that gave a growl of warning as Heidi approached, 
for the basket was the home of her kittens, and she 
meant to let every one know that she would allow 
no meddling with her family affairs. Heidi 
stopped to look at her in astonishment, for she had 
never seen so huge a cat before; but it was no 
wonder that she was well fed, for the old tower 
swarmed with mice and she could easily catch half 
a dozen fat ones for her dinner each day. 

The keeper noticed Heidi’s admiring glances, 
and said good-naturedly: — 

“Go and look at the little ones; she won’t hurt 
you while I am near.” 

One glance into the basket was sufficient to make 
Heidi burst into cries of delight. 


126 


HEIDI 


“Oh the dear little things 1 Oh, what lovely 
kittens!*’ she exclaimed again and again, as she ran 
from one side of the basket to the other, to see all 
the funny motions and capers of the seven or eight 
little kittens as they jumped and tumbled and 
sprawled over one another in restless play, 

“Would you like to have one?” asked the keeper 
who had been looking on in great amusement as 
Heidi danced about the basket. 

“What? To be my own? To keep always?” 
asked Heidi eagerly, and hardly able to realize that 
such happiness might really be hers. 

“Yes, to be sure; you may have more than one; 
you may have them all, if you have room for them 
at home,” said the man, for he was glad to be rid 
of the kittens without doing them harm. 

Heidi was in ecstasies; for she thought that in 
Klara’s great house there surely must be room 
enough for the kittens. And how surprised and 
delighted Klara would be at the sight of the pretty 
little creatures! 

“But how can I take them with me?” she asked 
putting her hands into the basket to catch one 
right olf ; but with a spring the old cat was on her 
arm, and hissing at her so fiercely that Heidi 
shrank back in alarm. 

“I will bring them to you if you will tell me 
where you live,” said the keeper, as he stroked the 



** Ohy the dear little things I 


r 





u 




A DAY OF VEXATION 


127 


cat to make her good-natured again; for the two 
were good friends and had lived in the tower to- 
gether for many years. 

“To Herr Sesemann’s house. It is a very large 
one, and on the door is a golden dog’s head with 
a big ring in his mouth,” were Heidi’s directions. 

But the keeper did not need them, for he had 
spent many years up in the tower, and knew every 
house in sight; and, besides, Sebastian was an old 
friend of his. 

“I know the house very well,” said the man; 
“but to whom shall I say that I have brought the 
little things? For whom shall I ask? You are 
not Herr Sesemann’s child?” 

“No, but Klara is, and she will be so pleased to 
see the kittens.” 

The keeper turned to go down the stairs, but 
Heidi could not tear herself away from the amus- 
ing sight. 

“If I only could take one or two of them with 
me; one for Klara and one for me. May I?” 

“Well, wait a minute,” said the keeper, and tak- 
ing up the mother cat he carried her into his room; 
there he sat her down in front of her dish of milk, 
and, closing the door on her, returned to Heidi. 
“There,” said he, “take two of them.” 

Heidi’s eyes beamed with pleasure as she 
chose first a white one and then a white and yel- 


128 


HEIDI 


low striped one. Slipping one into her right 
pocket and the other into the left, she followed the 
keeper down the stairs. 

The boy was still sitting on the stone steps, and 
as soon as the keeper had closed the door after 
Heidi, the child said: — 

“Now how shall we get to Herr Sesemann’s 
house?’’ 

“Don’t know,” was the answer. 

Heidi began to describe as best she could the 
front door, the windows and the steps ; but the boy 
shook his head, for he knew none of these. 

“Now listen,” continued Heidi, hoping to make 
it clear to him; “out of one of the windows we can 
see a big, big gray house, and the roof, goes so”« 
and here she drew imaginary points in the air with 
her finger. 

At this the boy jumped to his feet, for he had 
probably recognized one of the landmarks by 
which he found his way about the city. He began 
to run, and Heidi after him, never stopping until 
they came to the door on which was the large brass 
dog’s head. Heidi rang the bell. Sebastian 
opened the door, and as soon as he saw Heidi, he 
said urgently: — 

“Quick, quick!” 

Heidi sprang in and Sebastian quickly closed 
the door after her. He had not seen the boy who 


A DAY OF VEXATION 


129 


was standing outside with a dazed look on his face. 

‘‘Quick, little Mamsell,” Sebastian urged again. 
“Go right into the dining-room, they are at supper. 
Fraulein Rottenmeier looks as threatening as a 
loaded cannon. But why does the little Mamsell 
do such a thing as to run off without a word to 
anybody?” 

Heidi went into the dining-room. FrMein 
Rottenmeier did not so much as glance at her, nor 
did Klara say anything; the silence was becoming 
uncomfortable. Sebastian pushed Heidi’s chair 
into place. When the child was seated, the house- 
keeper began with a severe look and in a sternly 
solemn voice: — 

“Adelheid, I will speak with you later; for the 
present I wiU only say that you have been very 
naughty, and deserve to be severely punished for 
leaving the house as you did without permission — 
without so much as a word to anyone-^and wan- 
dering about the streets until evening. Such con- 
duct is almost beyond belief.” 

“Meow,” came the seeming reply. 

This was too much for the lady’s temper. In a 
voice shrill with anger, she cried: — ^ 

“What, Adelheid I You dare to make an ill- 
timed jest in addition to your behavior of this aft- 
ernoon? Have a care, I tell you!” 

“I am” — Heidi began. 


130 


HEIDI 


“Meow, meow!” 

Sebastian almost flung his platter on the table 
in his haste to get out of the room. 

“That will do,” Fraulein Rottenmeier at- 
tempted to say, but her voice was so choked with 
anger that she could hardly be heard. “Leave the 
table and go to your room!” 

The frightened child rose, but before leaving the 
room tried to explain, 

“Truly, I am”— 

“Meow, meow, meow!” 

“But, Heidi;” Klara remonstrated, “you see that 
you are vexing Fraulein Rottenmeier; why don’t 
you stop saying ‘meow?’ ” 

“I am not doing it ; it is the kittens,” Heidi was 
at last permitted to say without interruption. 

“What? Where? Cats? Young cats?” 
shrieked Fraulein Rottenmeier. “Sebastian! 
Tinette! Look for the horrid creatures, and take 
them away!” With that she escaped into the 
study and locked the door after her, that she might 
feel quite safe; for of all living things, cats were 
the most abominable to this lady. 

Sebastian was just outside the dining-room 
door making a desperate effort to stop laughing 
before he had to go in again. While serving Heidi 
he had caught sight of a kitten’s head peeping out 
of her pocket, and had foreseen the coming storm. 


A DAY OF VEXATION 


131 


When the trouble began, he could hardly control 
himself long enough to get the dish he held safely 
on the table. At last he could keep a straight 
face, and re-entered the room, but not until after 
the terrified lady’s cries for help had ceased. 
What he saw within looked quiet and peaceful 
enough; Klara was holding the little kittens in her 
lap while Heidi knelt beside her, and both children 
were playing in perfect delight with the two tiny 
graceful creatures. 

“Sebastian,” said Klara as he entered, “you 
must help us; you must make a bed for the kittens 
where Fraulein Rottenmeier will not find them. 
You know she is afraid of them, and will want to 
get rid of them ; but we want to keep the dear little 
things to play with when we are alone. Where 
can you put them?” 

“I will manage that, FrMein Klara,” replied 
Sebastian willingly. “I will make a nice little bed 
in a basket and set it where the timid lady will 
not find it. You can depend on me.” 

Sebastian set to work at once, chuckling to him- 
self all the while. “For,” thought he, “we haven’t 
seen the end of this yet,” and he was by no means 
sorry to see Fraulein Rottenmeier tormented a bit 
once in a while. 

Not until it was almost bed-time did the house- 
keeper venture to open the door just a little and 
ask through this narrow opening: — 


132 


HEIDI 


“Have the hateful creatures been taken away?’’ 

“Oh yes! Certainly, certainly!” said Sebastian, 
who had busied himself about the room in anticipa- 
tion of this very question. Quickly and quietly he 
took the kittens from Klara’s lap and disappeared 
with them. 

The special lecture which Fraulein Kottenmeier 
had in store for Heidi was postponed until the next 
day; for she felt too much exhausted to deliver it 
after the emotions of anger and fright which she 
had suffered that day, and all of which Heidi had 
unwittingly brought upon her, one after the other. 
She withdrew to her own room, and Klara and 
Heidi followed her example in perfect peace of 
mind, for they knew their kittens were safely 
stowed away in a snug little bed. 


CHAPTER VIII 

klara’s home is dull no longer 

O N the following day, just after Sebastian had 
opened the door for the tutor and conducted 
him to the study, the door bell was rung with 
such violence that Sebastian fairly flew down 
stairs. “For,” thought he, “nobody rings the bell 
like that except the master himself; he must have 
returned unexpectedly.” He opened the door as 
quickly as possible, and there stood a ragged street 
urchin with a hand-organ on his back. 

“What does this mean?” said Sebastian angrily. 
“I will teach you to pull bells out of their sockets. 
Wkat business have you here?” 

“I want to see Klara,” was the answer. 

“You unkempt ragamuffin, you! Can’t you 
say Traulein Klara,’ like the rest of us? What 
do you want of FrMein Klara?” snapped Se- 
bastian. 

“She owes me forty pfennigs,” declared the boy. 
“You must be a little daft! To begin with, how 
do you know that there is a Fraulein Klara here at 
all?” 

“Yesterday I showed her the way — that was 
twenty pfennigs ; then I brought her back again — 
that made forty.” 


134 


HEIDI 


“That proves it’s all a pack of lies, for Fraulein 
Klara never goes out. Now be olf from here to 
where you belong, before I help you!” 

But the boy was not to be frightened away so 
easily ; he remained standing where he was and said 
sturdily:^ 

“But I did see her on the street and I can tell you 
how she looks. She has short black hair that curls, 
and her eyes are black too; she wears a brown 
dress and doesn’t talk as we do.” 

“Oho!” thought Sebastian with a chuckle, “that 
is the little Mamsell. She has got something new 
under way.” Then he said to the boy: — 

“Very well, come in and follow me; when I go 
into the room you may wait outside the door until 
I come back; when I open it for you, step right 
in and begin a tune; FrMein Klara will be glad 
to hear it.” 

The two went upstairs ; Sebastian knocked at the 
study door and was called in. 

“There is a boy here who insists upon seeing 
Fraulein Klara herself,” Sebastian announced. 

So unusual an occurrence was very welcome to 
Klara. 

“Bring him right in,” she said quickly. Then 
turning to the tutor, she added: “That is right, is 
it not, Herr Kandidat, since he wants to speak to 
me?” 


KLARA’S HOME IS DULL NO LONGER 135 


The boy was already in the room, and according 
to his instructions began to play at once. To 
escape the despised ABC Fraulein Rottenmeier 
had busied herself in various ways about the din- 
ing-room. Suddenly she dropped her hands to 
listen. Were those sounds coming from the 
street? But they seemed so near. How could the 
music of a hand-organ be coming from the study? 
And yet — it surely was. She rushed through the 
long dining-room and tore open the door. There 
— incredible as it was — there, in the middle of the 
room stood a ragged urchin vigorously turning the 
handle of a street-organ. The Herr Kandidat 
was making great efforts to say something, but his 
voice was drowned by the music to which Klara 
and Heidi were listening with the happiest of 
faces. 

“Stop! Stop at once!’’ cried FrMein Rotten- 
meier from the doorway, but her words were lost 
in the music. She ran toward the boy, but sud- 
denly felt something between her feet, and look- 
ing down beheld an ugly black creature crawling 
toward her; it was a turtle. At sight of it, the 
housekeeper gave a leap into the air, such as she 
had not made for many a year; then she screamed, 
“Sebastian, Sebastian!” with all the strength of 
her lungs. 

The music came to a sudden end, for this time 


136 


HEIDI 


she had made herself heard. Sebastian was al- 
ready outside the door, doubled up with laughter, 
for he had seen the agile leap which had so ex- 
hausted FrMein Rottenmeier that she dropped 
helplessly into a chair as he entered. 

“Away with them — ^boy and beast! Get them 
out of my sight, Sebastian, immediately!” she cried 
out to him. 

Sebastian obeyed at once. He pushed the boy, 
who had quickly picked up his turtle, out of the 
room ahead of him, and, as soon as they were out- 
side the door, pressed something into the little fel- 
low’s hand, and said hurriedly: — 

“Forty pfennigs from FrMein Klara, and 
forty more for the music. You did very well,” 
and with that he closed the front door behind 
him. 

In the study all was quiet again; the lessons had 
been resumed, and Fraulein Rottenmeier had 
seated herself in one corner of the room so that her 
presence might serve as a check on any further mis- 
chief. After the lessons were over she meant to 
investigate the occurrence of the morning and 
punish the offender in a way that would not soon 
be forgotten. 

Very soon another knock at the door was heard 
and Sebastian appeared once more, this time with 
the announcement that a large basket had arrived 



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KLARA’S HOME IS DULL NO LONGER 137 


with the request that it be at once delivered to 
FrMein Klara. 

“To me?” asked Klara in great surprise, and 
very curious to learn what it might contain. 
“Bring it here and let me see what it looks like.” 

Sebastian brought in a covered basket, and, as 
soon as he had set it down, disappeared. 

“I think it will be best to finish your lessons 
first and then open the basket,” said Fraulein Rot- 
tenmeier. 

Klara could not imagine what had been sent her, 
and cast longing glances at the basket. 

“Herr Kandidat,” she said, stopping in the mid- 
dle of a declension, “may I just peep in a moment 
to see what there is in it, and then go right on 
with the lesson?” 

“In one way it seems advisable, but in another 
not,” replied the tutor; “in its favor would be the 
fact that if your attention is given to the basket”^^^ 

But his remark was never finished, for at this 
moment the cover, which had not been put on 
tightly, slipped olf, and out jumped, one, two, 
three little kittens, and then two more, and yet an- 
other, all leaping and racing about until the room 
seemed to be full of the nimble little creatures. 
They sprang over the tutor’s feet, clawed at his 
dress, scampered about between her feet, and 
trousers, clambered up Fraulein Rottenmeier’s 


138 


HEIDI 


jumped up on Klara’s chair, all scratching, biting 
and mewing; it was indeed a hubbub. 

In perfect rapture Klara cried again and 
again ; — 

“Oh, the cunning little things! How they 
jump! Look, Heidi! Look at this one! And 
that one ! See here !” 

Full of glee, Heidi flew after them into all the 
four corners of the room. The Herr Kandidat 
stood by the table drawing up one foot and then 
the other to avoid the attack of the kittens. Frau- 
lein Rottenmeier sat in her chair, in speechless 
amazement at first, but soon found her voice, and 
screamed; “Tinilstte! Tinette! Sebastian! Se- 
bastian!” for under no consideration would she 
have dared to leave her chair for fear that one of 
the little monsters might touch her. At last the 
servants came in answer to her repeated cries, and 
Sebastian gathered up the kittens one after the 
other and put them back into the basket. Then 
he carried them up to the attic where he had made 
a bed for yesterday’s arrivals. The lesson hour 
had passed again without any one having had the 
least temptation to yawn. 

Late in the evening, when Fraulein Rottenmeier 
had sufficiently recovered from the morning’s ex- 
citement, she summoned Sebastian and Tinette to 
come to the study, where she made a thorough en- 


KLARA’S HOME IS DULL NO LONGER 139 


quiry into the occurrences of the morning. Then 
it appeared that Heidi had been at the bottom of 
it all and, during her excursion of the previous 
day, had got the whole affair under way. The 
housekeeper was white with rage and quite unable 
at first to find words in which to express her feel- 
ings. She motioned to the servants to leave the 
room. Then she turned to Heidi who was stand- 
ing beside Klara’s chair, and did not in the least 
know wherein she had offended. 

“Adelheid,” began Fraulein Rottenmeier in a 
most severe tone, ‘T know of but one punishment 
that will have any effect on a barbarian like you; 
we will see whether you will grow more civilized 
down in the dark cellar with the rats and the 
lizards, so that you will not try such tricks 
again.” 

Heidi heard her sentence in calm surprise, for a 
cellar had no horrors for her; the room adjoining 
her grandfather’s hut, which he called the cellar, 
and where the pans of milk stood, and the round 
cheeses were kept, was rather a cheerful and at- 
tractive place ; and as for rats and lizards, she had 
never seen any. 

But Klara raised a loud outcry: — 

“No, no, Fraulein Rottenmeier; we must wait 
until papa comes home; you know he wrote that 
he is coming soon, and when I have told him 


140 


HEIDI 


everything he will decide what is to be done with 
Heidi.’’ 

This was a demand which the housekeeper could 
not oppose, especially since the master of the 
house was really expected in a short time. She 
rose and said in a tone of vexation: — 

“Very well, Klara, very well; hut I, too, shall 
have something to tell Herr Sesemann.” With 
that she left the room. 

After this came two or three quiet and unevent- 
ful days; but Fraulein Rottenmeier could not re- 
gain her composure, for the disappointment she 
had suffered in Heidi was hourly before her, and 
it seemed as though since the child had come, 
everything in the house was out of joint and would 
not run smoothly again. 

Klara was very cheerful; her days were never 
dull now, for Heidi did the most amusing things in 
lesson time. She always got the letters confused in 
the most extraordinary way, and did not seem able 
to learn them. Sometimes while the tutor was de- 
scribing them to her, and was trying to make them 
clearer by likening them to a bird’s biU or a horn, 
she would cry out joyfully: “It is a goat!” or “It 
is an eagle!” for the descriptions brought almost 
anything to her mind save the letters themselves. 

Toward the end of each afternoon Heidi would 
sit beside Klara and tell her about her mountain 


KLARA’S HOME IS DULL NO LONGER 141 


home and the life she led there, until the memory 
of it grew so vivid and the longing for it so great 
that she always ended by saying: — 

“Now it must be time for me to go home; to- 
morrow I must surely go.” 

But Klara always pacified the child, and per- 
suaded her to wait until her father’s return, when 
he would decide what it was best to do. And if 
Heidi always yielded and was soon content again, 
it was because of the pleasing thought, which she 
cherished in secret, that with each passing day the 
little heap of rolls for the grandmother was grow- 
ing larger by two. For at dinner and supper she 
always found a beautiful white roll beside her 
plate, which she quickly slipped into her pocket, 
for she could not have enjoyed it herself, knowing 
that the grandmother had nothing but hard black 
bread to eat that she could hardly bite. 

For two hours after dinner Heidi always sat 
alone in her room without stirring from the spot, 
for she was now aware that in Frankfort she was 
not allowed to run out of doors as she used to at 
home, and so she never attempted it again. To 
go into the dining-room and talk to Sebastian was 
also against FrMein Rottenmeier’s orders, and to 
open a conversation with Tinette never entered her 
mind; on the contrary, she avoided her carefully, 
for the maid always spoke to her in a scornful 


142 


HEIDI 


tone, and made fun of her, which the child under- 
stood very well. 

And so Heidi had plenty of time to think how 
the mountains were growing green, and how all 
the yellow flowers were dancing in the sunshine 
and everything was looking so beautiful in the 
golden light — the snow, and the mountains and the 
wide valley below; and then her longing to be 
there would grow so strong that she could hardly 
endure it. She remembered, too, that her Aunt 
Dete had told her that she could go home when- 
ever she wished. 

So it happened that the day came when she 
could stand it no longer; she tied up all her little 
white rolls in the big red kerchief, put on her bat- 
tered straw hat, and started off. But she had 
gone no farther than the front door when she met 
a serious obstacle to the fulfilment of her plans-^ 
no less a one that FrMein Rottenmeier herself, 
who was just returning from a walk. She stood 
still and stared at Heidi in dumb amazement, her 
eyes resting last and longest on the well-filled red 
kerchief. After a while she found her voice. 

“What sort of performance is this? What does 
it mean? Have I not given you strict orders 
never to go wandering about the streets? Now 
you are trying it again, and looking like a gypsy 
at that.” 


KLARA’S HOME IS DULL NO LONGER 143 


‘‘I did not mean to wander about the streets; I 
was only going home/’ replied the frightened 
child. 

“What? What do I hear? Home? You in- 
tended to go home?” cried the housekeeper, wring- 
ing her hands in her excitement. “You meant to 
run away ? If Herr Sesemann should hear of 
that! To run away from his house! Be sure not 
to let him hear of it! And what is it that doesn’t 
please you in this house, pray? Do you not get 
much better treatment than you deserve? Do you 
suffer for the want of anything? Have you ever, 
in all your life, been better fed and lodged and 
served than you are here? Answer me!” 

“No,” replied Heidi. 

“Of course not!” snapped FrMein Rotten- 
meier. “There is nothing you can wish for, noth- 
ing! You are an ungrateful creature, and so well 
cared for that you cannot find mischief enough in 
which to vent your spirits!” 

Heidi could suppress her pent-up feelings no 
longer, and now broke forth: — 

“But I really must go home, for if I stay away 
so long, Snowhopli will bleat so sadly, and the 
grandmother will be tired of waiting for me, and 
Goldfinch will be whipped if Peter gets no more 
cheese; and here I can never see the sun when it 
says good-night to the mountains ; and if the eagle 


144 . 


HEIDI 


should fly over Frankfort he would scream louder 
than ever, because so many people sit huddled to- 
gether and vex one another instead of going up on 
the mountains where they would be happier.” 

“Merciful heavens! the child has gone mad!” 
cried Fraulein Rottenmeier in terror, and rushed 
up the stairs with such speed that she ran against 
Sebastian who was just going down. 

“Go and fetch that wretched creature up at 
once,” she ordered while she rubbed her head, that 
had got a hard rap. 

“Yes, yes, I will,” said he, “and thank you 
kindly,” he added in an undertone as he rubbed his 
head too, for he had got the worst of it. 

Heidi had not moved from the spot, but stood 
there with flashing eyes, trembling from head to 
foot with excitement. 

“Well, well, is there something new under 
way?” was the amused servant’s question; but when 
he looked at the child more closely as she stood 
there still motionless, he patted her gently on the 
shoulder and said consolingly: “Come, come, the 
little Mamsell mustn’t take it so to heart! Be 
cheery, that’s better than anything else. She 
almost cracked my head a moment ago, too; but 
we mustn’t let her frighten us! What? Still on 
the same spot? But we’ll have to go up, for she 
said so.” 


KLARA’S HOME IS DULL NO LONGER 145 


Then Heidi turned and went up stairs, but with 
a slow and listless step, which was not her way at 
all. It grieved Sebastian to see her so, and he 
followed the child and said all he could to encour- 
age her. 

“You musn’t give up, and he downhearted. Be 
brave! We’ve had such a sensible little Mamsell; 
she hasn’t cried since she’s been with us, and most 
of them cry about a dozen times a day at her age. 
I know that well enough! The kittens are having 
a jolly time up stairs; they are chasing each other 
all over the attic like mad. After a while, when 
the lady in there has gone, we’ll go up and look at 
them, eh?” 

Heidi nodded her head, but with so little spirit 
that it made Sebastian’s kind heart ache to see her, 
and his eyes followed her in pity as she crept away 
to her room. 

At supper Fraulein Rottenmeier said nothing, 
but kept a strangely watchful eye on Heidi as 
though she expected the child to do some sudden 
and unheard-of thing. But Heidi sat as still as a 
mouse, and did not so much as move; she neither 
ate nor drank, but only slipped her roll quickly 
into her pocket. 

On the following morning FrMein Rottenmeier 
met the tutor at the head of the stairs, and with a 
mysterious air beckoned him to follow her into the 


146 


HEIDI 


dining-room, where, in great excitement, she con- 
fided to him her fear that the change of climate 
together with the strange sights and new mode of 
life had affected the child’s mind. She told him 
of Heidi’s attempt to run away, and repeated to 
him what she could remember of the child’s strange 
talk at the time. 

The tutor sought to quiet and comfort the agi- 
tated lady by assuring her that close observation 
had led him to believe that although Adelheid was 
somewhat eccentric in one way, in another she was 
quite sensible, and that, with suitable training the 
child’s mind would receive the proper balance. 
He regarded it as a more serious matter that the 
child could not get beyond the ABC, and could 
not yet recognize her letters. 

Upon hearing this, Fraulein Rottenmeier grew 
a little calmer and left the tutor to begin his les- 
sons. Later in the afternoon the outlandish 
costume in which Heidi had made her attempt to 
escape came to her mind, and she determined to 
replenish the child’s wardrobe with some of Klara’s 
half-used clothes, that she might present a better 
appearance when Herr Sesemann returned. She 
told this to Klara, who gladly consented and 
straightway gave Heidi a number of dresses, coats 
and hats. Accordingly, the housekeeper went to 
Heidi’s room to examine her clothes and decide 


KLARA’S HOME IS DULL NO LONGER 147 


what should be kept and what be discarded. But 
in a few minutes she returned looking highly 
disgusted. 

“What have I had to discover now, Adelheid!” 
she cried. “In your closet, which is a place for 
clothes, Adelheid, on the floor of this closet, what 
did I And? A heap of little rolls! Think of it, 
Klara! Bread in a clothes closet! And such a 
lot of itr’ 

“Tinette!” she called to the maid in the dining- 
room, “take away all the stale bread you will find 
in Adelheid’s closet, and the old straw hat on her 
table, too.” 

“No, no! I must keep the hat, and the rolls are 
for the grandmother,” screamed Heidi as she 
jumped up to run after Tinette; but FrMein 
Rottenmeier held her back. 

“You will stay where you are, and the rubbish 
will be put where it belongs,” she said severely as 
she kept a firm hand on the child. 

This was too much for Heidi; she threw herself 
down beside Klara’s chair and began to cry in per- 
fect despair; louder and more heart-rending grew 
her sobs, as in a voice choked with grief she ex- 
claimed over and over again: “Now the grand- 
mother will not have any rolls ! They were all for 
her, and now they are all gone and she won’t have 
any at all!” 


148 


HEIDI 


Heidi cried as though her heart would break. 
Fraulein Rottenmeier ran out of the room, and 
Klara grew quite anxious at the sight of the child’s 
terrible distress. 

“Heidi, Heidi, don’t sob so,” she said plead- 
ingly; “listen to me, do! You needn’t grieve so, 
for when you go home, I will give you just as many 
rolls for the grandmother; yes, even more than you 
had; and they will be fresh and soft, while yours 
would be quite hard by that time, if, indeed, they 
are not so already! Come, Heidi, come; please 
do not cry so!” 

It was a long time, however, before Heidi could 
control her sobs ; but she understood Klara’s 
promise and relied on it, else there would have 
been no end to her sobbing at all. As it was, she 
felt the need of reassuring herself of this new 
hope, and so asked Klara again and again in a 
voice broken by the last of her sobs : — 

“Will you give me just as many? Just as many 
for the grandmother?” To which Klara replied 
each time: — 

“Certainly; just as many, and more, if you will 
only be happy again.” 

At supper Heidi’s eyes were still red with weep- 
ing, and when she caught sight of the roll beside 
her plate, she gave a convulsive sob, but controlled 
herself with a great effort, for she had learned 


KLARA’S HOME IS DULL NO LONGER 149 


that she must conduct herself quietly at meal time. 

While waiting on the table, Sebastian made the 
most wonderful gestures whenever he caught 
Heidi’s eye ; first he would touch his own head and 
then point to hers, after which he would nod and 
wink, as if to say: “Be of good cheer! I saw it 
and have taken care of it.” 

That night, when Heidi went to her room, and 
turned back the coverlet on her bed, there lay her 
crushed straw hat hidden away beneath it. In 
rapture she drew forth the little old hat and 
crushed it yet a bit more in her joy at finding it 
again; then she wrapped it up in the kerchief and 
stowed it away in the farthermost corner of her 
closet. 

It was Sebastian who had tucked it under the 
coverlet; for when Tinette was called to take it 
away he was in the dining-room and so had heard 
Heidi’s cry of distress. Then, when the maid 
went to carry out her orders, he followed her, and 
as she came out of the child’s room with the load 
of bread in her arms and the hat on top of it, he 
quickly took it from her, saying: “I’ll attend to 
this.” 

With great satisfaction he had put it away for 
Heidi, and it was this that he had tried to make 
her understand at supper, in the hope of cheering 
her. 


CHAPTER IX 

THE MASTER OF THE HOUSE HEARS STRANGE TALES 

A FEW days after the events just related, 
there was great commotion in the Sesemann 
house, and much running up and down 
stairs. The master of the house had returned, 
and Sebastian and Tinette had to carry up one 
armful after another from the well-filled carriage, 
for Herr Sesemann always brought many beauti- 
ful things home with him. 

He, himself, went first of all to his daughter’s 
room to greet her. He found Heidi sitting beside 
her, for it was late in the afternoon, when the two 
children were always together. Klara gave her 
father a loving welcome, for she was very fond of 
him, and her good papa greeted his little daughter 
no less tenderly. Then he held out his hand to 
Heidi who had quietly withdrawn to one corner 
of the room. 

“And this is our little Swiss girl,” he said 
kindly; “come and shake hands with me. There, 
that’s right. Now tell me, are you good friends, 
you and Klara? Or do you get cross and scold 
each other, and then cry and make it up only to 
begin all over again?” 


150 


STRANGE TALES 


151 


“No, Klara is always good to me,” was Heidi’s 
answer. 

“And Heidi has never so much as tried to 
quarrel, papa,” added Klara quickly. 

“That is right, and I am glad to hear it,” said 
her father as he rose to go. “But now my little 
Klara must excuse me and let me get something to 
eat, for I have had nothing to-day. Afterward I 
will come back and show you what I have brought 
you.” 

Herr Sesemann went into the dining-room where 
Fraulein Rottenmeier was casting a last glance 
over the table to assure herself that all was in 
readiness for him. When he had seated himself, 
she took the place opposite him, looking the very 
picture of despair; tirrning to her, he said:- — 

“But my dear FrMein Rottenmeier, what am I 
to think? You are wearing a terribly gloomy face 
for my reception. What is the matter? My little 
Klara seems bright and cheery enough.” 

“Herr Sesemann,” began the housekeeper very 
solemnly, “it is a matter which concerns Klara; we 
have been shamefully deceived.” 

“How so?” asked Herr Sesemann quietly as he 
began his luncheon. 

“We had decided, as you know, Herr Sesemann, 
to add to our family a companion for Klara, and, 
knowing as I do, that you wish your daughter to 


152 


HEIDI 


be associated only with that which is good and 
noble, I selected a little Swiss girl, hoping to re- 
ceive into our household one of those beautiful 
beings of whom I have often read — born of the 
pure mountain air, and passing through life with- 
out a touch of earth, so to speak.” 

“It is my opinion,” remarked Herr Sesemann, 
“that even the children of the Alps must touch 
the earth if they want to get forward, else they 
would have been given wings instead of feet.” 

“Ah, Herr Sesemann, you know well enough 
what I mean — one of those beings of whom we 
have all heard, who dwell on a purer and higher 
level, and move through life like a breath of the 
ideal.” 

“But what kind of a companion for my little 
Klara would a breath of the ideal be?” 

“Indeed, Herr Sesemann, I am not jesting; the 
matter is more serious than you seem to think; I 
have been horribly, yes, horribly deceived.” 

“But what is it that is so horrible? I have seen 
nothing horrible about the child,” was Herr 
Sesemann’s calm reply. 

“It will be enough if I tell you of but one thing 
— of the people and animals which this creature 
has brought into your house during your absence.” 

“Animals? What am I to understand by that, 
Fraulein Rottenmeier?” 


STRANGE TALES 


153 


‘Tt is more than anyone can understand; the 
conduct of this girl is beyond comprehension, ex- 
cept from one point of view, that at times her mind 
is affected.” 

So far Herr Sesemann had attached little im- 
portance to the matter ; but if the child’s mind was 
affected there might be most serious consequences 
for his daughter. He gave the housekeeper a 
searching glance as though to assure himself first 
of all that she, herself, was not afflicted in that 
way; but before he had time to speak, the door 
opened and the Herr Kandidat was announced. 

“Ah, here comes the Herr Kandidat,” cried 
Herr Sesemann; “he will explain matters. Come 
in, come in, and join me! The Herr Kandidat 
will drink a cup of coffee with me, Fraulein 
Rottenmeier,” said Herr Sesemann, as he shook 
hands with the tutor. “Take a seat, take a seat — • 
no formality, if you please. And now tell me, 
what ails the child who is here to be a companion 
for Klara? You teach her, do you not? In what 
way has she been bringing animals into the house, 
and what is the state of her mind?” 

But the tutor must first express his pleasure at 
Herr Sesemann’s safe return, for this it was that 
had brought him. Herr Sesemann, however, 
urged him to begin at once with that which he 
wished to know. So the tutor began: — 


154 


HEIDI 


“If I am to give my opinion regarding this 
young girl, Herr Sesemann, I must first of all 
point out the fact that although in one way I have 
found her somewhat backward, this is due to a 
more or less neglected education, the result of a 
more or less protracted period of isolation during 
her life in the Alps; this, however, is not wholly to 
be deplored, for, if not too long continued, it has 
its advantages, no doubt, and in one way” — 

“My dear Herr Kandidat,” interrupted Herr 
Sesemann, “you are really giving yourself too 
much trouble. Tell me, now, were you also 
shocked at the sight of the animals the child 
brought into the house? And what do you think 
of her as a companion for my daughter?” 

“I desire in no way to criticize this young girl 
harshly,” the tutor began again; “for although in 
one way she is lacking in social experience, due to 
the more or less uncultured surroundings in which 
she lived up to the very moment of her removal to 
Frankfort, this short-coming will no doubt dis- 
appear during a continued stay here which will 
develop the, I should say, at least partially unde- 
veloped, but in other respects well endowed mind 
of this young girl, and which a well-regulated 
guidance” — 

“Please excuse me, Herr Kandidat, but don’t 
let me interrupt you. I am^I must speak to my 
daughter just a moment.” 


STRANGE TALES 


155 


So saying, Herr Sesemann vanished through the 
door and did not appear again. He went into the 
study and seated himself beside his little daughter, 
taking the chair from which Heidi had just risen. 
Turning to the child he said: — 

“See here, little girl, run quickly and get me — 
wait a moment — ^get me”^-^ Herr Sesemann 
could think of nothing that he wanted except an 
excuse to send Heidi out of the room for a few 
moments. “Get me a glass of water,” he finished. 

“Fresh water?” asked Heidi. 

“Yes, to be sure; nice fresh water,” replied Herr 
Sesemann. 

Heidi ran off. 

“Now, my dear little Klara,” said her father as 
he drew his chair closer to hers and took her hand 
in his, “tell me very frankly and plainly what 
kind of animals your little playmate has brought 
into the house, and what reason has Fraulein 
Rottenmeier for thinking that the child’s mind is 
affected at times. Do you know, my dear?” 

Klara knew very well, for in her agitation the 
housekeeper had repeated to her the strange words 
Heidi had spoken, but which Klara understood 
very well. First of all she told her father about 
the turtle and then about the kittens, and last of 
all explained Heidi’s words which had so fright- 
ened the housekeeper. After a hearty laugh Herr 
Sesemann asked: — 


156 


HEIDI 


“Then you are not tired of your little playmate, 
and do not wish me to send her away?’’ 

“Oh no, papa; please don’t!” cried Klara in 
alarm. “Since Heidi has been here there is some- 
thing amusing going on nearly all the time, and 
that makes the days so much pleasanter than when 
nothing ever happens at all. And Heidi tells me 
so much that is entertaining, too.” 

“Very well, very well, my dear. Ah, here is 
your little friend back again. Well, did you get 
me some nice, fresh water?” asked Herr Sesemann 
as Heidi handed the glass to him. 

“Yes, fresh from the fountain,” answered the 
child. 

“You didn’t run to the fountain yourself, did 
you Heidi?” asked Klara. 

“Yes, I did; it is quite fresh. But I had to go 
a long way, for there were so many people at the 
first fountain that I ran to the one at the end of 
the street, but there were many people there, too. 
So I turned down the other street and got the 
water there. And the gentleman with the white 
hair sends his best regards to Herr Sesemann.” 

“Well, well, that was quite an expedition,” said 
Herr Sesemann with a laugh. “And who was the 
gentleman?” 

“He was passing the fountain, but stood still 
and said: T see you have a glass; won’t you 


STRANGE TALES 


157 


please give me a drink? For whom are you get- 
ting the water?’ And I said: Tor Herr Sese- 
mann.’ Then he laughed aloud, and told me to 
give you his regards, and say that he hoped you 
would enjoy the water.” 

“Indeed! I wonder who sent me so kind a wish. 
How did the gentleman look?” asked Herr Sese- 
mann. 

“He had a kind smile, and wore a thick gold 
chain on which hung a piece of gold with a big red 
stone in it; and on his cane I saw a horse’s head.” 

“That is the Herr Doctor.” “That is no other 
than my old doctor,” said Klara and her father as 
with one voice, and Herr Sesemann laughed again 
as he wondered what his old friend thought of this 
new mode of getting water to drink. 

Later in the evening, when Herr Sesemann and 
FrMein Rottenmeier were sitting in the dining- 
room discussing a number of household matters, 
he told her that he wished his daughter’s com- 
panion to remain with them, as he believed the 
child to be in her right mind, and Klara seemed to 
enjoy her company more than any other. 

“It is my wish, therefore,” said he in a very de- 
cided tone, “that the child shall always receive the 
kindest of treatment, and that her peculiarities are 
not to be regarded as faults. Should you find 
her more than you can manage, you can console 


158 


HEIDI 


yourself with the pleasant prospect that you will 
soon have able assistance. 'My mother is coming 
to stay quite a long time with us, and there is no 
one, no matter how peculiar, with whom my 
mother cannot get on, as you are well aware, I 
believe, Fraulein Rottenmeier.” 

“Yes, indeed, Herr Sesemann, I know that very 
well,” said FrMein Rottenmeier, but without the 
look of relief that might be expected at a prospect 
of early assistance. 

Herr Sesemann remained at home only a short 
time, for at the end of a fortnight he was called 
to Paris on business. He consoled his little 
daughter, who was very unwilling to let him go, 
with the prospect of her grandmother’s intended 
visit, and told her that it would be only a few days 
now before her arrival. And in truth, Herr 
Sesemann had hardly gone, when a letter was re- 
ceived in which Frau Sesemann announced her 
departure from Holstein, where she lived on an 
old family estate, and stated the exact time of her 
arrival on the following day, so that the carriage 
might be sent for her. 

The news made Klara very happy, and she 
talked so much and so long about “grandmamma” 
to Heidi that before the day was over Heidi, too, 
began to speak of “grandmamma;” whereupon 
Fraulein Rottenmeier gave her a look of great 


STRANGE TALES 


159 


disapproval, to which the child did not attach much 
importance, however, as she felt that the lady 
always disapproved of her. 

Later in the evening, when Heidi had left the 
study and was on her way to bed, the housekeeper 
called her into her own room to tell her that she 
must never speak of Frau Sesemann as ‘‘grand- 
mamma,” but must always address her as gracious 
madam.^ 

“Do you understand?” she asked, as Heidi 
looked at her a little doubtfully; but at the same 
time she gave the child so stem a glance in return 
that Heidi did not dare to ask for any further ex- 
planation, although she had not fully understood 
this new mode of address. 

1 Gnadige Frau. 


CHAPTER 55 


A GRANDMAMMA 

O N the following evening there were signs of 
great preparations in the Sesemann house, 
and it was plainly to be seen that some one 
of importance was expected — some one who was 
not only highly regarded by all, but whose good 
opinion was desired as well. Tinette had a brand- 
new white cap on her head and Sebastian gathered 
up all the footstools about the house and set them 
in the most convenient places, so that the expected 
guest might find one ready for her feet wherever 
she might choose to sit. As the housekeeper went 
through the rooms on her tour of inspection, she 
held her head very high, as though to let everyone 
know that although there would soon be a new 
authority in the house, her own was nevertheless 
not on the wane. 

Presently the sound of wheels was heard with- 
out; Sebastian and Tinette rushed down stairs, 
while Fraulein Rottenmeier followed them with a 
slow and stately step, for she knew that she was 
expected to receive Frau Sesemann. 

Heidi had been told to go to her room and re- 
main there until she was called, as the grand- 
160 


A GRANDMAMMA 


161 


mamma would want to see Klara at once and 
would wish to find her alone. So she sat in one 
corner of her room repeating the new mode of 
address that she had been told to use. She had 
not dared to question the housekeeper about it, 
but had concluded that she must have misunder- 
stood the lady, since she had never heard anyone 
addressed otherwise than as Frau or Madam with 
the name following. She determined to act 
accordingly, and before long Tinette appeared in 
the doorway to say in her usual short way:— 

“Go into the study.” 

As Heidi opened the door of the study the 
grandmamma called out in a cheery voice: — 
“Why, here is the little girl! Come here, my 
child, and let me look at you.” 

As Heidi stepped up to her the child said in a 
clear voice and very distinctly: — 

“Good-evening, Madam Gracious!” 

“Why, that is a new way!” said the grand- 
mamma with a smile; “but why not? Is that what 
they say at home, in the Alps?” 

“No; there is no one of that name at home,” 
said Heidi very gravely. 

“Nor here, either,” was the grandmamma’s 
laughing reply as she patted the child on the cheek. 
“That won’t do for the nursery; I am simply 
‘grandmamma’ to the little folks, and that is what 


162 


HEIDI 


you may call me, too. You can remember that, 
can’t you?” 

“Oh yes, very well,” Heidi assured her. “That 
is what I said at first.” 

“Oh, I see!” said the grandmamma with a merry 
nod of her head; she looked very closely at Heidi, 
and then nodded again from time to time. The 
child returned her gaze unwaveringly, looking 
straight into the grandmamma’s eyes, where she 
must have seen something that was very kind and 
loving, for she felt at ease at once. Indeed, this 
new grandmamma seemed so charming to Heidi 
that the child could not take her eyes off of her. 
The old lady had such beautiful white hair on 
which rested a fiuffy lace cap with two broad ends 
of ribbon hanging down from it; these were always 
moving gently as though a soft breeze were play- 
ing about the grandmamma all the time, and this 
was specially pleasing to Heidi. 

“And what is your name, my child?” asked the 
grandmamma. 

“My name is only Heidi; but now I am also 
called Adelheid, and so I will be careful to 
answer” — ^liere Heidi’s voice faltered a bit, for at 
that moment Fraulein Rottenmeier opened the 
door, and the child felt a little guilty, knowing that 
she still did not answer when this lady called 
“Adelheid” unexpectedly, for she had not yet got 
used to thinking of herself by that name. 


A GRANDMAMMA 


163 


“Frau Sesemann will agree with me that I had 
to choose a name that would not make one feel 
mortified to use it, if only on the servants’ account.” 

“My dear Rottenmeier,” replied the grand- 
mamma, “if a child happens to be named Heidi, 
and is used to that name, I shall call her by it, 
and that’s the end of it.” 

It annoyed the housekeeper very much that the 
old lady persisted in calling her by her name only 
without a preceding title of any kind; but there 
was no help for it, for the grandmamma had her 
own ways, which she followed, and there was little 
use in opposing them. Moreover, the old lady’s 
five senses were quite as sharp as ever, and it did 
not take her long to learn what was going on in 
the house. 

On the day after her arrival, while Klara was 
taking her usual after-dinner rest, the grand- 
mamma seated herself in an easy-chair beside her, 
and closed her eyes for a few minutes; then she got 
up — for it did not take her long to get rested — and 
went into the dining-room; there was no one there. 
“She is taking a nap,” said the old lady to herself 
as she went to the housekeeper’s room and gave a 
sharp knock on the door. After a few moments 
it was opened by the lady within, who gave a little 
start when she saw her unexpected visitor. 

“Where is the child usually at this time of day. 


164 


HEIDI 


and what does she do? That is all I wanted to 
know,” said Frau Sesemann. 

“She sits in her room, where she might be doing 
something useful if she had the least desire to 
work; but you ought to hear Frau Sesemann, what 
mischievous things the child plans, and sometimes 
even carries out — things that can hardly be men- 
tioned in polite society.” 

“That is just what I should do, I can assure you, 
if I had to sit all alone in a room like that child, 
and you might do as you liked about mentioning 
my performances in polite society. Now please 
get the child and bring her to my room ; I want to 
give her some pretty books I brought with me.” 

“That is the worst of it — that is just the 
trouble,” cried FrMein Rottenmeier, wringing 
her hands. “What can she do with books? In 
all this time she has not yet learned her A B C’s. 
It is quite impossible to teach that child a single 
new idea; the Herr Kandidat can tell you that. 
If the good man were not blessed with the patience 
of an angel he would long ago have given up 
teaching her.” 

“Indeed! That seems strange; the child does 
not look like one who cannot master the alphabet. 
Well, bring her to me now; for the present she can 
enjoy the pictures in the books.” 

The housekeeper was going to say more, but 


A GRANDMAMMA 


165 


Frau Sesemann had already turned, and was 
hurrying to her own room. She was surprised to 
hear of Heidi’s dulness, and determined to learn 
more about it; but not from the tutor, although 
she had a high regard for that worthy gentleman 
because of his many good qualities. She always 
greeted him very cordially when they met, but in- 
stantly hurried away to another part of the room 
to avoid a conversation with him, for she found his 
mode of expressing himself a trifle wearisome. 

Before long, Heidi came to the grandmamma’s 
room and opened her eyes wide when she saw the 
beautiful colored pictures in the big ‘books that 
were shown her. Suddenly, just after the grand- 
mamma had turned a new page, the child gave a 
loud cry; with burning eyes she looked at the pic- 
ture before her, and then burst into tears, sobbing 
convulsively. The grandmamma examined the 
picture; it represented a beautiful green pasture 
where all sorts of animals were grazing and 
nibbling at the green bushes. In the midst of them 
stood the shepherd leaning on a long staff as he 
watched the contented creatures. Everything in 
the picture had a golden light on it, for the sun 
was just sinking below the distant horizon. 

The grandmamma took the child’s hand in hers. 

“Come, come, my dear,” said she in the kindest 
of voices, “don’t cry so, don’t cry! The picture 


166 


HEIDI 


made you think of something, didn’t it? But see, 
here is a pretty story about it, and this evening I 
will tell it to you. And there are many more 
beautiful stories in the book, all of which can be 
read and then told to someone. Come, now, there 
is something we must talk about together. Dry 
your eyes, child; there! N^ow come and stand be- 
side me, here where I can see you. There, that is 
right. Now we are happy again.” 

It was some time, however, before Heidi could 
cease sobbing; but the grandmamma gave her 
plenty of time to get over it, only encouraging her 
from time to time by saying: “There, now it is 
all over; now we will both be happy again.” 
When she had at last succeeded in quieting the 
child, she said: — 

“Now you must tell me something, my child. 
How do you get on with your lessons with the 
Herr Kandidat? Do you learn fast, and do you 
know much?” 

“Oh, no!” answered Heidi with a sigh; “but I 
know that it can’t be learned.” 

“What can’t be learned, Heidi? What do you 
mean?” 

“To read. It is too hard.” 

“You don’t say so? And where did you learn 
this surprising bit of news?” 

“Peter told me, and he knows; for he has tried 


A GRANDMAMMA 


167 


over and over again. But he cannot learn it; it is 
too hard.” 

“Well, he must be a queer Peter, that Peter of 
yours. But, you know, my dear, we mustn’t be- 
lieve everything that is told us; we must try for 
ourselves. Probably you do not put all your 
thoughts on what the Herr Kandidat tells you, 
and do not look at the letters very carefully.” 

“It is of no use,” Heidi assured her in a tone of 
complete submission to the inevitable. 

“Heidi,” said the grandmamma, “now I will tell 
you something. You have not learned to read 
because you believed what Peter said. Now you 
are going to believe what I say, and I can promise 
you without fail that you will learn to read, and in 
a short time, too, just as many other children do 
that are like you and not like Peter. And now 
you shall hear what is to happen afterward, 
when you have learned to read. You saw the 
shepherd standing in the beautiful green pasture? 
As soon as you can read you shall have the book; 
then you can read the story about him, and it will 
be just as though some one were telling it to you — = 
what he does with his sheep and goats, and what 
strange things happen to him. You would like 
to know all that, wouldn’t you, Heidi?” 

The child had listened intently and now said, as 
she drew a deep breath and her eyes shone with 
eagerness : — 


168 


HEIDI 


“Oh, if I could only read!” 

“Now it will come, and it will not take long 
either; I can see that, Heidi. And now we must 
see what Klara is doing. Come, we will take the 
pretty books with us,” said the grandmamma, and 
with the child’s hand in hers, the two went to the 
study together. 

Ever since the day when Heidi started for home 
and was discovered and scolded for it by the 
housekeeper, and told how naughty and ungrate- 
ful it was of her to try to run away, and how 
fortunate it was that Herr Sesemann did not know 
of it, a great change had taken place in the child. 
She had learned that she could not go home when 
she wished, as her aunt had told her, but that, on 
the contrary, she must stay in Frankfort a long, 
long time, perhaps forever. She believed, too, 
that Herr Sesemann would consider it very un- 
grateful of her to wish to go home, and she con- 
cluded from this that Klara and her grandmamma 
would think likewise. And so the child dared not 
tell any one how she longed to go home, for she 
did not want the grandmamma, who was so kind 
to her, to be angry with her as the housekeeper 
had been that day. 

But the weight that pressed on her heart grew 
heavier and heavier; she could not eat, and with 
every day she grew a little paler. At night, when 


A GRANDMAMMA 


169 


she went to bed, it was often a long, long time be- 
fore she fell asleep; for when she was all alone, 
and it was so still about her, her mountain home 
rose so clearly before her, and she could see the 
green pasture with the sunshine on it and all the 
flowers round about; and when she finally did go 
to sleep she saw in her dreams the glowing peaks 
of Falkniss and the rosy snowfield on Casaplana. 
Then, when the morning came, and Heidi awoke 
with the glad thought that now she would run out 
of doors and stand before her grandfather’s hut, 
she would suddenly remember that she was in her 
big white bed in Frankfort, far, far away from the 
home she might never see again. Then Heidi 
would bury her face in her pillow and cry a 
long time, but very softly for fear that some one 
might hear. 

The child’s unhappiness did not escape the 
grandmamma, but she let several days go by in the 
hope that Heidi would grow more cheerful. 
When she saw that this was not likely to be the 
case, but that, on the contrary, Heidi’s eyes often 
showed traces of tears when she came from her 
room early in the morning, the grandmamma 
called the child to her room again one day, and 
placing Heidi before her, said with the utmost 
kindness: — 

“Now tell me what ails you, Heidi? Is some- 
thing troubling you?” 


170 


HEIDI 


But it was just to this kind grandmamma that 
Heidi would not show her ingratitude, for fear that 
she might lose her friendship. So the child said 
sadly ^ 

“It is something that can’t be told.” 

“No? Perhaps it might be told to Klara.” 

“Oh, no; it can’t be told to anyone,” Heidi re- 
plied with so despairing a look in her face that the 
grandmamma’s heart ached for her. 

“Come, my child,” said the old lady, “I will tell 
you something. When we have a sorrow of which 
we cannot speak to anyone on earth we must tell 
it to the dear God in heaven and ask Him to help 
us, for there is no sorrow that He cannot take 
away. You know that, do you not, my child? 
You pray every night to the dear God in heaven 
and thank Him for all His goodness and ask Him 
to protect you from all that is evil, do you not?” 

“No, I never do that,” was the child’s answer. 

“Have you never prayed, Heidi? And don’t 
you know how to pray?” 

“My first grandmother taught me to pray, but 
that was long ago, and I have forgotten.” 

“There, my little Heidi, that is why you are so 
sad, because you know of no one who can help 
you. Just think what a blessing it must be to 
those whose hearts are heavy with some great sor- 
row to know that at any moment they can go to 


A GRANDMAMMA 


171 


the dear God and tell Him all that troubles them, 
and ask Him to help them when there is no one on 
earth who can. He can help us in every trouble, 
and give us what will make us glad again.” 

A look of hope suddenly came into Heidi’s eyes 
as she said; — 

Can we tell Him everything, everything?” 

“Everything, Heidi, everything.” 

Drawing her hand out of the grandmamma’s, 
Heidi said eagerly; — 

“May I go?” 

“To be sure, to be sure, my child,” was the 
answer. 

Heidi ran otF, and hurrying to her room sat 
down on the footstool, and, folding her little hands, 
told the dear God all that pressed upon her heart 
and made her so sad, and begged Him earnestly 
to help her, and let her go home to her grand- 
father. 

About a week later the tutor expressed a desire 
to pay his respects to Frau Sesemann, as he wished 
to tell her of a most remarkable occurrence. He 
was shown to her room at once, where Frau Sese- 
mann met him at the door with outstretched hands 
saying ; — 

“My dear Herr Kandidat, I am glad to see you; 
pray be seated; here,” and she drew a chair for 
him. “Now tell me, what brings you to me? 
Nothing bad, I hope; no complaints?” 


172 


HEIDI 


“Quite the contrary, gracious madam,” the 
tutor began; “something for which I had almost 
ceased to hope has come to pass, although, to judge 
from what has gone before, no one could have fore- 
seen it, for according to all reasonable suppositions 
it was impossible. Nevertheless it has taken 
place, and in the most wonderful manner, and con- 
trary to all that could be expected”^ — • 

“Perhaps the child, Heidi, has learned to read, 
Herr Kandidat?” Frau Sesemann interrupted 
him. 

Speechless with astonishment, the tutor could 
only stare at Frau Sesemann. 

“It is most surprising,” he began at lajst; “after 
this young girl had failed to master even so much 
as the A B C’s in spite of all my careful explana- 
tions and special efforts, she has now — when I had 
just decided to cease attempting the unattainable, 
and to place before her no more than the simple 
letters themselves — she has, so to speak, learned to 
read over night; and, moreover, reads with a cor- 
rectness which I have seldom found in a beginner. 
Almost as surprising to me is the fact that you, 
gracious madam, should have suspected that this 
remote possibility had become a reality.” 

“Many wonderful things happen in a lifetime,” 
replied Frau Sesemann; “even the fortunate com- 
bination of two circumstances, such as a new desire 


A GRANDMAMMA 


173 


to learn and a new method of teaching; neither is 
to be regretted, Herr Kandidat. Let us rejoice 
that the child has learned so much, and at the same 
time hope for continued improvement.” 

So saying, Frau Sesemann accompanied the 
tutor to the door and then hastened to the study to 
assure herself that the welcome news he had 
brought was indeed true. 

There sat Heidi reading a story to Klara, evi- 
dently to her own great astonishment, and with 
an increasing eagerness to enter the new world 
which had so suddenly been opened to her by 
means of the little black letters before her — a 
world of people and things that grew more and 
more real as they were woven into wonderful 
stories of great interest. 

That evening when Heidi came to supper, she 
saw the big book with the beautiful pictures lying 
beside her plate, and as she looked inquiringly at 
the grandmamma, the kind old lady said with a 
friendly nod: — 

“Yes, yes, it is yours now.” 

“Mine for always? Even when I go home?” 
asked Heidi growing quite rosy with pleasure. 

“Yes, yours always,” the grandammma assured 
her. “To-morrow we will begin to read it.” 

“But you aren’t going home, not for many years 
to come, Heidi,” exclaimed Klara. “Now that 


174 


HEIDI 


grandmamma is going away so soon, I shall need 
you more than ever.” 

Before Heidi could go to sleep that night she 
had to take another look at her beautiful book; 
from that day forth her greatest pleasure was to 
sit poring over it, reading again and again the 
stories that told about the pretty colored pictures. 
When in the evening the grandmamma said: 
“Now Heidi will read us a story,” the child was 
happy, for she could read quite easily now, and 
when she read the stories aloud they seemed more 
beautiful and real to her; and, as she read, the 
grandmamma explained so many things and added 
much that the children were glad to hear. 

The picture at which Heidi looked oftenest and 
longest was the one that showed the green pasture 
with the shepherd standing in the midst of his 
flock, leaning contentedly on his long staff, for as 
yet he was with his father’s well-kept flocks, 
watching and caring for the merry sheep and goats 
because he loved them. But in the next picture 
he had run away from his father’s house, and was 
far from home tending swine, and looked quite 
thin, for he had nothing but husks to eat. In this 
picture there was no golden sunshine as in the 
other, but only a gray and gloomy sky. But 
there was a third picture to the story, and in it the 
old father was coming out of his house with out- 


A GRANDMAMMA 


175 


stretched arms to welcome his penitent son now 
returning to him in fear and trembling, elothed in 
rags, and wasted with hunger. 

That was Heidi’s favorite story, and she read it 
over and over again, aloud or to herself, never 
growing weary of the explanations whieh the 
grandmamma gave the children. There were 
many other charming stories in the book and, in 
reading them and looking at the pictures, the time 
passed quickly, and the day which the grand- 
mamma had set for her journey home was not far 
distant now. 


CHAPTER XI 

HEIDI BOTH GAINS AND LOSES 

T hroughout her visit the grandmamma 
made it her habit to take a little nap as she 
sat beside Klara when the little invalid was 
lying down for her after-dinner rest, and Frau- 
lein Rottenmeier had mysteriously disappeared, 
probably to refresh her over-taxed nerves. But 
after a few minutes the old lady was on her feet 
again, and then she always called Heidi to her 
room, where she talked with the child and showed 
her many ways in which to amuse and employ her- 
self. The grandmamma had brought a number of 
pretty dolls with her, and she showed Heidi how 
to make dresses and aprons for these little people; 
in this way the child learned to sew quite neatly 
and could soon make the prettiest doll’s dresses 
and cloaks out of the beautiful bright-colored 
pieces which the grandmamma always had at hand. 
Now that Heidi could read, she often read some 
of the stories in her big book aloud to the grand- 
mamma, and this was the child’s greatest pleasure, 
for the oftener she read the stories the more she 
loved them. The child shared all the joys and 
sorrows of the people about whom she read, so that 


HEIDI BOTH GAINS AND LOSES 177 


they seemed like real friends whom she was always 
glad to meet again. And yet Heidi never looked 
really light-hearted and happy, and the old merry 
look that her eyes had lost never came hack to 
them. 

It was now the last week of the grandmamma’s 
visit in Frankfort. She had just called Heidi to 
her room, for it was the time in which Klara 
rested. When Heidi entered with her big book 
under her arm, the grandmamma beckoned her 
to come nearer ; taking the book from her and lay- 
ing it aside, she drew the child toward her, and 
said : — 

“Now tell me, Heidi, why are you not happy? 
Is your heart still heavy with the same trouble?” 

“Yes,” nodded Heidi. 

“And have you told it to the dear God?” 

“Yes.” 

“And do you pray every day that God will make 
it right and you will be happy again?” 

“Oh, no; I never pray any more.” 

“What is that, Heidi? What do I hear? And 
why do you not pray any more?” 

“It is of no use; the dear God did not hear me; 
and I can understand very well why He didn’t,” 
the child continued with some agitation, “for when 
all the many, many people in Frankfort pray 
to Him in the evening, He cannot listen to all 


178 


HEIDI 


of them, and I am sure He never heard me.” 

“Indeed! And why are you so sure of that?” 

“Every evening, for many, many weeks, I 
prayed the same prayer, but the dear God did not 
answer it.” 

“Yes, yes, my child; but that is not the way to 
look at it. You see, the dear God is a kind father 
to us all, and He always knows what is good for 
us, much better than do we ourselves. And so, 
when we ask Him for something that is not good 
for us to have. He does not give us that, but some- 
thing else which is much better for us, provided 
we continue to pray earnestly to Him. You see, 
my child, that for which you prayed was not best 
for you just now; but our dear Father in heaven 
did hear you, for He can see us all, and listen to 
us all, at one and the same time, for He is the good 
Gk)d and not a human being like you and me. 
And, since He knew very well what was best for 
you. He thought to himself: ‘Yes, some time 
Heidi shall have that for which she asks, but not 
until it is best for her, and she can be perfectly 
happy over it; for, if I do what she asks of me now, 
the day will come when she will see that it would 
have been better, after all, if I had not done so; 
and then she will cry and say: “Oh, if only the 
dear God had not given me what I begged of Him, 
for it was not as good for me as I thought.” ’ 


HEIDI BOTH GAINS AND LOSES 179 


“And now, while the dear God was looking down 
at you to see whether you were trusting Him and 
coming to Him every day to pray and tell Him all 
your troubles, you turned away and lost your trust 
in Him, never praying, and forgetting Him alto- 
gether. Now, can’t you see that when people do 
so, and the dear Lord never hears their voices 
among those who pray to Him, it is only right that 
he should forget them and let them go their own 
way. But when they come to grief in that way, 
and then cry and say: ‘There is no one to help 
me!’ then no one feels sorry for them, but every 
one says: Tt is your own fault, for did you not 
turn away from the dear God who alone could 
have helped you?’ 

“Now will you be like these people, Heidi? Or 
will you go back to the dear Lord and beg Him to 
forgive you for turning away from Him; and here- 
after pray every day, and trust Him to bring 
everything right for you in the end, so that your 
heart may be light again?” 

Heidi had listened attentively, and the grand- 
mamma’s words had sunk deep into her heart, for 
the child had the greatest confidence in her. 

“I will go right away and ask the dear God to 
forgive me, and I’ll never forget Him again,” 
said the penitent child. 

“That is right, Heidi; and you may be sure He 


180 


HEIDI 


will help you when the right time comes,” said the 
grandmamma encouragingly as Heidi ran off to 
her room, where she prayed earnestly and peni- 
tentlj^ begging the dear God not to forget her, but 
to look down upon her in forgiveness. 

The day when the grandmamma must depart 
came all too soon; it was a sad day for Klara and 
Heidi, but the kind old lady did not allow them 
to realize it, but managed to make it seem more 
like a holiday up to the very moment when she 
stepped into the carriage and was driven away. 
Then a silence and feeling of emptiness fell upon 
the house, as though everything had come to an 
end; and for the rest of the day Klara and Heidi 
sat together like two lost children, not knowing 
what to do next. 

On the following day, when the lessons were 
over and the hour which the children usually spent 
together had come, Heidi appeared in the door- 
way with her big book under her arm, and said: — 

“Now I will always read to you, always, if you 
like, Klara?” 

Klara very gladly agreed to this, and Heidi 
entered upon her newly-assumed duty with great 
eagerness. But the pleasure did not last long; 
for hardly had Heidi begun a new story which told 
of a dying grandmother, when she burst into tears 
and cried out: “Oh, now the grandmother is 


HEIDI BOTH GAINS AND LOSES 181 


dead!” for all that the child read seemed real to 
her, and she now believed that Peter’s grand- 
mother had died. Sobbing louder and louder, she 
cried piteously: — ^ 

“Now the grandmother is dead, and I can never 
go to her again, and she has not had one little 
white roll!” 

Klara tried to explain to Heidi that the grand- 
mother of the story was not Peter’s grandmother, 
but an entirely different one; but even after she 
had succeeded in convincing Heidi of this, the 
agitated child continued to sob, and could not be 
comforted, for now the idea had entered her mind 
that while she was so far away the grandmother 
might die, and her grandfather, too, and that, 
when at last after many years she went back to 
her mountain home, she would find it silent and 
deserted, and, standing before its closed doors, 
know that she would never again see those she 
loved. 

In the meantime, Fraulein Rottenmeier had en- 
tered the room, and had overheard Klara’s efforts 
to explain to Heidi the mistake that she had made. 
Finally, when Heidi did not stop crying, she 
turned to the children with evident impatience, and 
said sternly: — 

“Adelheid, that will do; stop your foolish cry- 
ing. I will tell you one thing; if you ever give 


182 


HEIDI 


way to such an outbreak again during your read- 
ing, I will take the book away and never give it 
back to you.” 

That made no impression. Heidi grew white 
with terror, for the book was her greatest treasure. 
Hastily drying her eyes she swallowed and choked 
down her sobs with all her might, allowing not a 
sound to escape her. The housekeeper found no 
occasion to repeat her threat, for Heidi never cried 
again, no matter what she read. At times, how- 
ever, her efforts to control herself and not cry 
aloud were so great that Klara would look at her 
in astonishment and say: — 

“Heidi, you are making the most frightful faces 
I ever saw!” 

But the “frightful faces” made no noise, and so 
were not noticed by FrMein Bottenmeier, and 
when Heidi had mastered one of her attacks of 
desperate homesickness everything went smoothly 
again for a while, and no one had been disturbed 
by so much as a sound. 

But the child lost her appetite and looked so pale 
and thin that Sebastian could not bear to see her 
so, and when she declined even the most tempting 
dishes he had to offer, and would not so much as 
taste them, he felt so grieved that he would whisper 
coaxingly: “Take some of this, Mamsell; it is ex- 
cellent. Oh, not so little; take a good spoonful; 


HEIDI BOTH GAINS AND LOSES 183 


now another.” But it was of no use ; Heidi 
scarcely ate anything; and when she closed her 
eyes at night her grandfather’s hut with all the 
beauty around it rose so plainly before her, that, 
overcome by her great longing, she would bury her 
face in her pillow and cry very softly so that no 
one might hear her. 

Thus a long time passed in which Heidi scarcely 
knew whether it was winter or summer, for the 
high walls with their many windows always looked 
the same, and they were all that could be seen 
from the windows of the Sesemann house, and 
Heidi never went out of doors except when Klara 
felt especially well; then they would take a drive, 
but only a short one, for the little invalid could not 
endure to sit long in a carriage. And so they al- 
ways turned homeward very soon and never got 
beyond brick walls and stone pavements, but al- 
ways drove through handsome wide streets where 
there were houses and people in plenty, but no 
grass and flowers, no pine trees and mountains. 
And it was for these dear and familiar objects that 
Heidi longed more and more with every passing 
day, so that now the mere sight of their names in 
print awakened memories and longings that 
brought her near to an outbreak of despairing 
grief which it took all her strength to conquer in 
silence. 


184 


HEIDI 


In this way the fall and the winter had passed, 
and now the sun shone so dazzlingly on the white 
walls opposite the Sesemann house that Heidi 
knew the time must be near when Peter would 
again drive his flock up to the mountain pasture, 
where by day the golden rockroses glittered in the 
sunshine, and at evening all the mountains round 
about glowed in fiery beauty. 

And Heidi crept into one corner of her lonely 
chamber, and, with both hands pressed against her 
eyes that she might not see the sunlight on the op- 
posite waU, sat there motionless, battling in silence 
with the terrible homesickness in her heart, until 
Klara sent for her again. 


CHAPTER XII 


A GHOST IN THE SESEMANN HOUSE 

F or some days FrMein Rottenmeier had 
been going about the house with a silent and 
thoughtful air. At dusk, when she passed 
from one room to another, or went through the 
long halls, she looked about her continually, peer- 
ing into every corner, or casting a furtive glance 
backward as though she feared some one were 
creeping up behind her to give her dress a twitch. 

Moreover, it was only into the rooms that were 
in constant use that she still went alone; if she 
had an errand in the upper stories, where the 
handsomely furnished guest chambers were situ- 
ated, or, worse still, if she found it necessary to go 
down to the first floor on which was the mysterious 
great drawing-room where every footstep woke 
strange echoes, and where the worthy Herr Coun- 
cillors in their high white collars looked steadfastly 
down at her from their frames on the walls, she 
always called Tinette, bidding her to come with 
her in case something had to be carried up or down. 

Tinette, on her part, did precisely the same; if 
a duty required her to go to the upper or lower 
floors she called Sebastian, and told him to come 


186 


HEIDI 


with her as there might be something to carry that 
was too heavy for her. Strange to say, Sebastian 
did exactly the same; whenever he was sent to a 
remote part of the house he went after Johann 
telling him to come too, as it might require two 
to fetch what was wanted. And, though there was 
never anything to carry or to do that one could 
not have easily done alone, yet each one responded 
to the other’s call most willingly, as if he in turn 
expected to ask a like service. While matters 
went on thus upstairs, below, in the kitchen, the 
old cook who had been in the house for many years 
went about among her pots and kettles sighing 
and shaking her head as she muttered:--^ 

“To think that I should live to see such a thing!” 

There was something mysterious and uncanny 
going on in the Sesemann house. Every morning 
when the servants came down stairs they found 
the front door standing wide open; but nowhere 
was anyone to be seen who could in any way be 
connected with the strange occurrence. On the 
first days that it was found so, every room and 
closet in the great house was examined to discover 
what had been stolen, for it was supposed that a 
thief had secreted himself in the house and had 
made off with his booty during the night. But 
nothing was found to be gone; in the whole house 
not a thing was missing. 


GHOST IN THE SESEMANN HOUSE 187 


At night the front door was not only doubly 
locked, but bolted beside. But all to no purpose; 
the next morning it stood wide open. No matter 
how early the excitement and curiosity of the 
servants brought them down stairs, they always 
found the door wide open although the entire 
neighborhood still lay wrapped in sleep, and all 
the windows and doors in the other houses were 
tightly closed. 

Finally Johann and Sebastian plucked up cour- 
age and at the housekeeper’s earnest entreaties pre- 
pared to pass the night in a room adjoining the 
great drawing-room, from there to observe what 
might happen. Fraulein Rottenmeier brought 
forth a number of Herr Sesemann’s weapons and 
gave them to Sebastian together with a light 
luncheon, so that her defenders might have good 
cheer as well as good arms, should they be needed. 

On the appointed evening the two m|en took 
their places and at once began to refresh them- 
selves with the luncheon which at first made them 
talkative and then very sleepy, whereupon they 
both settled down in their comfortable chairs in si- 
lence. As the old tower clock struck twelve Se- 
bastian roused himself and called to his companion. 
Johann was not easily awakened, however, but at 
each call only turned his head from one side of the 
chair to the other, and slept on. But Sebastian 


188 


HEIDI 


was listening intently, and he was quite wide awake 
by this time. Not a sound was to be heard; even 
the noises of the street had died out ; Sebastian did 
not go to sleep again, for he began to feel very 
ill at ease in the great stillness all about him, and 
his voice did not rise above a whisper as he called 
to Johann and shook him from time to time. 
Finally, after the old clock had struck one, Johann 
waked up and realized why it was that he was sit- 
ting there, instead of being comfortably asleep in 
his bed. He jumped up with a sudden feeling of 
bravery, and said: — 

“WeU, Sebastian, let us go out and see how mat- 
ters stand. You aren’t afraid, are you? Come 
on, you can keep behind me.” 

Johann now pushed open the door which had 
not been tightly closed; he was instantly met by a 
cold gust of air that came sweeping through the 
front door which stood wide open, and at the same 
moment the light he carried was blown out. 
Johann sprang back into the room; in his haste he 
nearly upset Sebastian who was close behind him, 
and, as he pushed him farther back into the room, 
he slammed the door shut and quickly turned the 
key as far as it would go. Then, in great haste, 
he drew forth a match and relit his lamp. 

Sebastian hardly knew what had happened ; fol- 
lowing so close behind Johann, he had not felt the 


GHOST IN THE SESEMANN HOUSE 189 


cold draft of air. But when the light revealed to 
him his companion’s face, he gave a cry of alarm, 
for it was as white as chalk, and the man was 
trembling like an aspen leaf. 

“What is it? What did you see out there?” he 
asked anxiously. 

“The front door was wide open,” panted 
Johann, “and a white figure was gliding upstairs. 
Look, Sebastian! It was like this — whish — and it 
was gone.” 

Cold shivers crept up Sebastian’s back as he 
listened. Then the two men drew their chairs 
close together and sat there without stirring until 
the bright daylight came in at the windows, and 
the street below had grown quite lively again. 
Then they left the room together, and, closing the 
front door which was still open, they went up- 
stairs to report the events of the night to the house- 
keeper. That lady did not keep them waiting a 
moment, for her anxiety with regard to what they 
would have to tell her had not allowed her to 
sleep very long. 

As soon as she heard what had happened, she 
sat down and wrote Herr Sesemann a letter the 
like of which he had never received before. In it 
she declared that her fingers were almost paralyzed 
with fear, and called upon Herr Sesemann to pack 
up at once and return to his home, where the most 


190 


HEIDI 


unheard of things were taking place. This was 
followed by a statement of the night’s occurrence, 
together with the announcement that the front 
door was found wide open every morning, and 
that, therefore, the life of everyone in the house 
was nightly in danger, and that no one could fore- 
see what dreadful consequences might result from 
this horrible mystery. 

Herr Sesemann replied that it was impossible 
for him to leave his business at such short notice. 
The ghost-story, he said, surprised him exceed- 
ingly, and he hoped that by this time there was no 
longer any cause for anxiety. However, should 
the disturbance continue, he advised FrMein Rot- 
tenmeier to write to his mother and ask her to 
come to Frankfort, for he had no doubt that she 
would get rid of the ghosts in short measure, and 
so effectively that they would not very soon 
venture to disturb his house again. 

The housekeeper was by no means pleased with 
the tone of this letter; the writer did not seem to 
regard the matter seriously enough. However, 
she wrote to Frau Sesemann at once, but found 
little to comfort her in the reply from that quarter, 
while, on the contrary, some of the remarks it con- 
tained were most irritating. Frau Sesemann 
wrote that she had no desire to take the long jour- 
ney from Holstein just because the housekeeper 


GHOST IN THE SESEMANN HOUSE 191 


was afraid of ghosts. Moreover, no ghosts had 
ever before been seen in the Sesemann house, and 
if there were any flitting about there now, she had 
no doubt they were to be found among the living, 
and the housekeeper must try to catch them by her- 
self; if she could not succeed, she must call the 
night watchman to her aid. 

But Fraulein Rottenmeier was determined not 
to spend her days in terror any longer, and she 
knew a way by which to get relief. Up to this 
time she had not mentioned the ghostly visitor to 
the children, for fear that they would be afraid 
to be left alone for a single minute either by day 
or night, and this might lead to serious inconven- 
ience for herself. Now, however, she went straight 
to the study where the two children were sitting to- 
gether, and in a low and awe-struck voice began 
to tell them of the mysterious nightly visitor. The 
instant Klara heard of it, she screamed with terror, 
and declared that her papa must be sent for at 
once, and that Fraulein Rottenmeier must sleep 
in the room with her, so that she might not be left 
alone for a single moment; and Heidi, too, must 
not be left alone, for the ghost might come to her 
and do her harm. She proposed that they all 
three sleep in the same room and keep a bright 
light burning all night; that Tinette sleep in the 
next room, and that Sebastian and Johann spend 


192 


HEIDI 


the night in the adjoining hall to give the alarm 
and frighten the ghost away should it venture up- 
stairs. 

Klara was so excited that it took the housekeeper 
a long time to quiet her. She promised to write 
to Herr Sesemann at once, and to have her bed 
moved into Klara’s room, and never to leave her 
alone. They could not all sleep in one room, she 
said, but if Adelheid was afraid, she would tell 
Tinette to put up her bed in the child’s room. But 
Heidi was more afraid of Tinette than she was of 
ghosts, for she had never heard of them, and at 
once declared that she did not fear the ghost and 
was quite willing to sleep alone in her room. 

The housekeeper now hurried to her task and 
wrote Herr Sesemann, telling him that the mys- 
terious occurrence, which was repeated every 
night, was having so serious an eff ect on his daugh- 
ter’s delicate constitution that the worst conse- 
quences were to be feared; that she herself had 
known sudden attacks of epilepsy or St. Vitus’s 
dance to follow similar states of excitement, and 
that his little daughter was therefore in great 
danger so long as the present state of terror con- 
tinued in the house. 

This had the desired effect. Two days later 
Herr Sesemann stood at his front door and gave 
the bell so vigorous a pull that everyone in the house 


GHOST IN THE SESEMANN HOUSE 193 


rushed into the hall, each one staring at the others, 
for they all believed nothing less than that the 
ghost had now grown bold enough to begin his 
mischievous tricks even before nightfall. Sebas- 
tian took the precaution to look down through the 
half-closed shutter of an upper window, but at 
that moment the bell received another violent pull 
which convinced everyone that a human hand must 
be on the knob. 

Sebastian had recognized the hand; he rushed 
from the room, and head over heels down stairs, 
where he was fortunate enough to alight on his 
feet ; then he threw the door open. The master of 
the house passed him with only a short nod and 
went up to his daughter’s room without delay. 
Klara greeted her father with a loud cry of joy, 
and when he saw his little girl looking so happy 
and in no wise changed, the frown on his forehead 
gradually disappeared, and his face grew more 
and more cheerful as he heard from his daughter’s 
own lips that she was quite as well as usual, and 
was so glad to have him with her again; she even 
assured him that she liked the ghost that was roam- 
ing about the house very well now, since it had 
been the means of bringing her papa home. 

‘'And how does the ghost conduct himself now- 
a-days, Fraulein Rottenmeier?” asked Herr Sese- 
mann with a tell-tale twitching at the corners of 
his mouth. 


194 


HEIDI 


“Really, Herr Sesemann,” replied the house- 
keeper, “it is no jesting matter. I am quite sure 
that by to-morrow morning you yourself will not 
be inclined to laugh. What is going on here at 
present suggests the thought of some bloody deed 
that must have been committed in the house long 
years ago and have been kept secret.’* 

“Indeed! Well, I have never heard of it, and I 
must beg that no suspicions be cast upon my very 
respectable ancestors. And now will you please 
send Sebastian to the dining-room; I wish to speak 
with him there alone.” 

So saying, Herr Sesemann crossed the hall into 
the opposite room. It had not escaped him that 
Sebastian and the housekeeper were not very fond 
of each other, and he had his suspicions. 

Presently Sebastian appeared at the door; his 
master beckoned him to enter, and called out ^ 
“Come here, you rascal, and tell me the truth. 
Haven’t you been playing ghost for Fraulein 
Rottenmeier’s benefit? Eh?” 

“No, upon my honor, Herr Sesemann; you 
must not think that. I do not feel very comfort- 
able about the *ghost myself,” replied Sebastian 
with unmistakable candor. 

“Well, if that is the case, I will show you and 
that very courageous Johann what ghosts look like 
by daylight to-morrow morning. You ought to 


GHOST IN THE SESEMANN HOUSE 195 


be ashamed of yourself, Sebastian I A strong 
young fellow like you to run away from ghosts! 
Now go at once to my old friend, Dr. Classen; 
present my compliments and tell him to come to 
see me without fail at nine o’clock to-night. Say 
that I came from Paris for the special purpose of 
consulting him, and that it is so serious a case that 
he will have to sit up with me all night, and must 
come prepared accordingly. Do you understand, 
Sebastian?” 

‘‘Certainly, sir, certainly! You can depend on 
me to deliver your message as you wish.” 

Sebastian went on his errand, and Herr Sese- 
mann returned to his little daughter to relieve her 
of any remaining fear of spectres which he would 
present in their true light in the morning. 

At exactly nine o’clock, after the children had 
gone to bed and the housekeeper had retired to her 
room, the doctor appeared. His gray hair was 
brushed back from a face still fresh and youthful, 
out of which looked a pair of alert but kindly eyes. 
He appeared somewhat anxious as he entered, but 
as soon as the greetings were said he burst into a 
merry laugh, and slapping his friend on the 
shoulder, said: — 

“Well, well, for a man who needs to be sat up 
with all night, you look pretty comfortable, old 
fellow!” 


196 


HEIDI 


“Oh, not so fast, old man, not so fast!’’ retorted 
Herr Sesemann; “the one for whom you are to 
sit up will look a good deal worse than I do when 
we have caught him.” 

“Then there is a sick person in the house after 
all, and one that must be caught, besides 1” 

“Worse, much worse. Doctor! There is a ghost 
in the house; the place is haunted.” 

The doctor laughed aloud. 

“Pretty sympathy, this. Doctor!” Herr Sese- 
mann continued. “ ’Tis a pity Fraulein Rotten- 
meier isn’t here to enjoy it! She is convinced that 
an ancient Sesemann is wandering about doing 
penance for some dark deed done ages ago.” 

“And where did she meet him?” asked the doctor 
still much amused. 

Herr Seseman now told his friend the whole 
story, and that the front door was still found open 
every morning, as all the servants testified. Then 
he added that, to be prepared for any emergency, 
he had placed two trusty revolvers in the room 
where they were to spend the night ; for he regarded 
the affair either as an ill-chosen practical joke that 
some friend of the servants was playing for the 
purpose of frightening them while the master of 
the house was away — in this case a little wholesome 
fright, such as would result from a shot into the 
air would be an excellent thing — or else it was the 


GHOST IN THE SESEMANN HOUSE 197 


work of thieves who hoped in this way to give the 
impression that there were ghosts about, so that 
the servants would not dare to venture out of their 
rooms, and so leave them to plunder unhindered 
later on; if this were the case, a trusty weapon 
would not come amiss. 

During this conversation the gentlemen had 
descended the stairs, and now entered the room in 
which J ohann and Sebastian had kept their watch. 
On the table stood some light refreshments which 
might be most welcome if the night was to be spent 
here; close by lay the two revolvers, while two 
silver candelabra shed a brilliant light through the 
room, for Herr Sesemann had no mind to await 
the ghost in semi-darkness. 

The door was nearly closed, so that the light 
might not shine into the hall and so frighten the 
ghost away. Then the gentlemen made them- 
selves comfortable in two easy chairs, and found 
so much to talk about that, together with a little 
occasional refreshment, the time passed so quickly 
that when the clock struck twelve, they could 
hardly believe that it was so late. 

“The ghost has got wind of us, and will not come 
to-night,” said the doctor. 

“Patience, old friend, patience! It doesn’t 
come until one o’clock, they say,” replied Herr 
Sesemann, and the conversation was resumed. 


198 


HEIDI 


It struck one. The silence about them re- 
mained unbroken, for even the noises in the street 
had ceased entirely. Suddenly the doctor raised 
his finger. 

“P’st, Sesemann! Don’t you hear something?” 

Both men listened intently. Sof.tly, but very 
distinctly, they heard the bolt drawn back, then 
the key turned twice in the lock, and finally the 
door swing open. Herr Sesemann grasped his re- 
volver. 

“You aren’t afraid, are you?” asked the doctor, 
rising as he spoke. 

“Caution is always best,” whispered Herr Sese- 
mann, as he took one of the candelabra in his left 
hand, and with the revolver in his right, followed 
the doctor, who preceded him, also provided with 
candelabrum and revolver. In this way they went 
softly to the door and out into the hall. 

Through the front door, which was wide open, 
the pale moonlight fell upon a white figure stand- 
ing motionless on the threshold. 

“Who are you?” thundered the doctor in tones 
that rang through the entire length of the hall, as 
both men, with lights and weapons, stepped up to 
the figure. It turned and gave a low cry. With 
bare feet and clad only in her little white night 
gown, Heidi stood before them, looking up with 
dazed eyes at the bright lights and weapons, and 



A white figure 


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GHOST IN THE SESEMANN HOUSE 199 


trembling and shaking like a leaf in the wind. 
The gentlemen exchanged a glance of astonish- 
ment. 

I do believe, Sesemann, it is your little water- 
carrier!’’ exclaimed the doctor. 

Child, what does this mean?” asked Herr Sese- 
mann. “What were you going to do? Why did 
you come down here?” 

W^ith her face blanched as white as snow Heidi 
stood there, and said in a voice that could scarcely 
be heard: — > 

“I don’t know.” 

The doctor now stepped forward, saying: — 

“Sesemann, this is a case for my profession. Go 
and make yourself comfortable in your arm-chair 
while I take the child back to where she belongs.” 

So saying he laid his revolver on the floor, took 
the trembling child by the hand and went toward 
the stairs with her. “Never fear, never fear,” he 
said cheerily as they went up. “You needn’t be 
afraid ; there was no harm in what you did. Have 
good courage!” 

When they had arrived in Heidi’s room the doc- 
tor set his light on the table, lifted the child in his 
arms and laid her gently in her bed, carefully tuck- 
ing in the covers around her. Then he sat down be- 
side the bed and waited until she had grown a little 
calmer and had ceased to tremble in every limb. 


200 


HEIDI 


Taking the child’s hand in his he said soothingly: — 

“There, now we are all right again; now just 
tell me where you wanted to go.” 

“Really, I didn’t want to go anywhere,” Heidi 
assured him. “And I didn’t go down there at all. 
I just was there.” 

“Oh, that is the way it was? And did you 
dream during the night? Do you remember any- 
thing that you saw or heard?” 

“Oh, yes; I dream every night, and always the 
same. In my dream I am at home with grand- 
father, and I hear the pine trees sigh, and I know 
that up in the sky the beautiful stars are shining 
so bright. Then I run to the door as fast as I can 
and look out, and it is so beautiful! But when I 
wake up I am always back in Frankfort again.” 
Heidi could scarcely finish, for she was struggling 
with the lump in her throat again. 

“Hm! and have you a pain anywhere? In your 
head, or in your back?” 

“Oh, no; only a feeling here, as though a great 
stone were lying there.” 

“Hm! just as though you had eaten something 
that you would like to get rid of again, eh?” 

“No, not like that. Only such a heavy feeling, 
as though I should like to cry very hard.” 

“Oh, so? And do you cry hard then?” 

“Oh, no, I am not allowed to do that. Fraulein 
Rottenmeier forbade it.” 


GHOST IN THE SESEMANN HOUSE 201 


“Then you swallow it down to the other big 
lump, don’t you? I understand. Well, you like 
to be in Frankfort, don’t you?” 

“Oh, yes,” was the low reply, but it sounded 
more as though the contrary were true. 

“Hm! and where did you live with your grand- 
father?” 

“AJways up on the Ahn.” 

“Indeed! Well, it cannot be very amusing up 
there; it is rather dull, isn’t it?” 

“Oh, no! It is so beautiful! so beautiful!” 
Heidi could say no more, for the memory, to- 
gether with the excitement she had just passed 
through, and her long restrained desire to weep 
proved too much for the child’s strength; the tears 
rushed to her eyes and she burst into loud and con- 
vulsive sobs. 

The doctor rose; laying the child’s head gently 
back against her pillow, he said: — 

“There, cry a little while longer; that will do no 
harm ; and then go to sleep, go quietly and content- 
edly to sleep, for to-morrow it will all be made 
right.” 

Then he left the room. 

When he had rejoined his friend who was anx- 
iously awaiting his return, he took the chair oppo- 
site to him and said: — 

“Sesemann, your little protegee walks in her 


202 


HEIDI 


sleep ; quite unconsciously she has gone down every 
night and, as the supposed ghost, has frightened 
your servants out of their wits. Moreover, the 
child is being consumed by homesickness so that 
she is hardly more than a little skeleton now, and 
will soon be one unless instant help is at hand. 
For the first trouble and the extremely nervous 
condition consequent upon it, there is but one rem- 
edy, namely that the child be sent back to her 
native mountain air at once ; for the second trouble 
there is also but one medicine, namely, the same as 
for the first. The child must therefore start for 
home to-morrow. That is my only prescription.” 

Herr Sesemann had arisen and in great excite- 
ment was pacing the floor. When the doctor had 
ended, he exclaimed: — 

“Walks in her sleep! 111! Homesick! Re- 
duced to a skeleton in my house ! All in my house 
and no one noticed or prevented it! And you. 
Doctor! You expect me to send a child, who 
came to my house rosy and well, back to her grand- 
father, ill and thin as a skeleton! No, Doctor, you 
must not ask it! I cannot do it! Take the child 
in hand and cure her. Do whatever you think 
best, only make her well and strong. Then she 
shall go back as soon as she likes; but first you 
must cure her.” 

“Sesemann,” replied the doctor very gravely, 


GHOST IN THE SESEMANN HOUSE 203 


“consider what you are doing. This is not an ill- 
ness that can be cured with pills and powders. 
The child’s constitution is not robust; however, if 
you send her back immediately into the bracing 
mountain air to which she is used, she will get en- 
tirely well again; if not — ^you do not want her to 
go back to her grandfather an incurable invalid, or 
perhaps never at aU, do you?” 

Herr Sesemann came to a sudden and startled 
halt before his friend: — 

“If that is the case, Doctor, then there is, as you 
say, only one way, and we must act at once.” 

With these words he took the doctor’s arm, and 
together the two friends paced up and down the 
room as they discussed the matter further. They 
must have passed a long time in this way, for when 
the doctor said that it was time for him to go, and 
the front door was thrown open, this time by the 
master of the house himself, the light of early 
morning came streaming in. 


CHAPTER XIII 

UP THE ALM ON A SUMMER EVENING 

S TILL greatly agitated, Herr Sesemann ran 
upstairs and with a firm tread went to the 
housekeeper’s room, where he rapped so loudly 
upon the door that the lady started out of her 
sleep with a cry of alarm. Then she heard the 
master’s voice without asking her to hurry and 
come to the dining-room as soon as possible as 
preparations for a sudden journey were to be made. 

Fraulein Rottenmeier looked at her watch; it 
was just half-past-four. Never in all her life had 
she arisen at such an unheard-of hour. AVhat 
could have happened? Curiosity and anxious ex- 
pectation so excited her that she picked up every- 
thing wrong end first, and searched with nervous 
haste all over the room for what she had already 
put on, so that she made hut little progress in her 
toilet. 

Meanwhile Herr Sesemann was walking down 
the hall, giving every bell that communicated with 
a servant’s room a sharp pull, with the result that 
in each of the several rooms a terrified figure 
leaped out of bed and scrambled head-long into 
some clothes; for each and every one of them be- 

204 


UP THE ALM 


205 


lieved nothing less than that the ghost had caught 
the master, and this was his call for help. One 
after the other they came down stairs; each look- 
ing more terrified than the preceding one, and pre- 
senting themselves before the master who, brisk 
and bright, was walking up and down in the din- 
ing-room, looking in no way the worse for his 
meeting with the ghost. 

Johann was at once sent to get the horses and 
carriage ready to be brought to the door later on; 
Tinette was told to wake Heidi and dress her for 
the journey; Sebastian was despatched to the house 
where Heidi’s Aunt Defe was in service and told 
to bring her back with him. The housekeeper had 
meanwhile completed her toilet, and now ap- 
peared quite correctly dressed, with the exception 
of her headdress which she had put on wrong side 
to, so that from a distance she looked as though 
her head had been turned, bringing her face over 
her back. Herr Sesemann ascribed this surpris- 
ing appearance to her unusually early rising, and 
proceeded immediately to the business in hand. 
He told her that a trunk must be procured at once, 
and into it must be packed all the clothing of the 
little Swiss girl — for so he always called Heidi 
whose name he found a little difficult to remember 
— together with a large part of his daughter’s 
wardrobe, so that the child might have something 


206 


HEIDI 


respectable to take home with her. “But,” he 
added, “it must be begun at once and finished with- 
out delay.” 

The housekeeper was so overcome with surprise 
that she stood as though rooted to the ground, 
staring at Herr Sesemann. She had expected to 
hear a blood-curdling ghost-story, his experience 
of the night, which she was by no means disinclined 
to hear in the bright light of the day; instead, she 
had received these highly prosaic and very incon- 
venient orders. It had come too suddenly for her 
to overcome her surprise at once, and she remained 
standing speechless before Herr Sesemann, as 
though expecting something further. But he had 
no intention of explaining matters, but left the 
lady standing where she was, and went to his 
daughter’s room. 

As he had supposed, the unusual stir in the house 
had waked her and she was listening in every di- 
retion to learn what was going on. Her father 
seated himself at her bedside and told her how the 
ghost story had ended, and that, in the doctor’s 
opinion, Heidi’s condition was serious; that she 
would probably walk farther and farther in her 
sleep; perhaps even climb to the roof, and so en- 
danger her life. He had therefore decided to 
send the child home forthwith, as he did not wish 
to feel responsible for her any longer; his little 


UP THE ALM 


207 


daughter must accept the inevitable, since she 
could herself see that no other course was possible. 

It was a most painful surprise to Klara, and 
she suggested a number of ways to solve the diffi- 
culty and yet keep her little friend with her; but 
her father remained firm and promised to take 
Klara to Switzerland during the next summer if 
she would be reasonable and not grieve. So Klara 
submitted cheerfully to what could not be helped, 
but asked in return that Heidi’s trunk be brought 
to her room to be packed, so that she might put in 
whatever she pleased. To this her father not only 
gave his ready consent, but urged her to get to- 
gether a goodly outfit for the child. 

Meanwhile Aunt Dete had arrived and was 
standing without in the anteroom in a state of great 
expectancy; for to be summoned at so unusual an 
hour must mean that something extraordinary was 
about to happen. Herr Sesemann stepped into 
the anteroom and told her of Heidi’s condition, and 
asked her to take the child home at once, that very 
day. Dete looked very much disappointed; this 
was not what she had expected. She remembered 
very well, too, that the Alm-Uncle’s last words 
had been that he never wished to see her again; 
she had left the child with him once, and then had 
taken her away, and it hardly seemed advisable to 
Dete to go to him now and ask him to take the 


208 


HEIDI 


child again. It did not take her long to decide 
what to do; she began at once to say very glibly 
that she regretted exceedingly not to be able to go 
with the child that day; and on the next it would 
be still less possible, and for some days after that 
she could not ask to be excused owing to the work 
planned for that time, and after that it would be 
quite impossible. 

Herr Sesemann understood the meaning of 
these excuses very well, and dismissed Dete with- 
out any further discussion. He then summoned 
Sebastian, and told him to make immediate prep- 
arations for a journey, as he was to go with Heidi 
as far as Basle that day, and on the next take her 
home; he was to return at once, as there was no 
message to deliver, for Herr Sesemann would ex- 
plain everything in a letter to Heidi’s grandfather. 

“But there is one important matter, Sebastian,” 
said Herr Sesemann in conclusion, “that you must 
see to most conscientiously. The name I have 
written here on my card is that of a hotel in Basle 
at which I am well known. By showing my card 
to the proprietor you will secure a good room for 
the child; you can look out for yourself. Before 
the child goes to her room you are to fasten all the 
windows in it so securely that it will require the 
greatest strength to open them. After she has 
gone to bed you must lock the door from the out- 


UP THE ALM 


209 


side, for the child walks in her sleep, and may meet 
with a terrible accident if she wanders about a 
strange house in search of the front door. Do 
you understand?” 

“Ah! Oh! That was it, was it!” exclaimed the 
astonished Sebastian, for he suddenly saw the 
ghost story in a new light. 

“Yes, that was it? And you are a miserable 
coward, and Johann is another, as you may tell 
him for me; and all of you deserve to be the laugh- 
ing stock of the town.” 

With this, Herr Sesemann went to his room to 
write a letter to the Alm-Uncle. Sebastian re- 
mained standing in the middle of the room with a 
sheepish look on his face, muttering to himself: — > 

“If only I hadn’t let that cowardly Johann drag 
me back into the room! I would have followed the 
little white figure if I had seen it, I am sure!” 
for now that the bright sunlight was falling into 
every corner of the room, he was brave enough. 

Meanwhile Heidi was standing in her room 
dressed in her little Sunday frock, waiting for 
what might come next, for she had no idea what 
was going to happen. Tinette had waked her, 
taken her clothes from the closet and helped her 
put them on, but had not spoken a word; for she 
never talked to the low-born little Heidi, as she con- 
sidered herself far above her in station. 


210 


HEIDI 


When breakfast was served, Herr Sesemann en- 
tered the dining-room, carrying his letter in his 
hand, and asked: — 

“Where is the child?” 

Heidi was called, and as she stepped up to Herr 
Sesemann to wish him good-morning, he looked 
inquiringly at her, and said: — 

“Well, how do you like it, little one?” 

Heidi looked up at him wonderingly. 

% “Perhaps you haven’t been told about it yet!” 
exclaimed Herr Sesemann with a smile. “Well, 
you are going home to-day. You are to start 
right away.” 

“Home!” repeated Heidi in a voice that was 
hardly more than a whisper, while her face turned 
white as now. For a moment she could scarcely 
get her breath for the quick beating of her heart at 
the thought of it. 

“Perhaps you don’t want to go?” asked Herr 
Sesemann, laughingly. 

“Oh, yes, I do,” was Heidi’s quick reply, and 
now she turned crimson. 

“Oh, very well! very well!” said Herr Sesemann 
encouragingly, as he seated himself at the table 
and motioned the child to do likewise. “First 
you must eat a hearty breakfast and then you can 
get into the carriage and start off.” 

But Heidi could not swallow a mouthful, much 


UP THE ALM 


211 


as she wished to be obedient. She was in such a 
state of excitement that she hardly knew whether 
she was awake or dreaming, and wondered whether 
she would not wake to find herself in her little 
white night-dress standing at the front door. 

“Sebastian must take plenty to eat with him,’’ 
said Herr Sesemann to the housekeeper who was 
just entering the room; “the child cannot eat now, 
as is quite natural.” Then turning to Heidi, he 
added kindly: “Go and stay with Klara until the 
carriage is ready.” 

That was just what Heidi wished to do, and she 
ran off at once. In the middle of Klara’s room 
stood a huge trunk, still wide open. 

“Come, Heidi, come! See what we have packed 
into your trunk!” Klara called out as she caught 
sight of the child. “Are you glad?” 

And she named a whole list of things — dresses 
and aprons, shawls and sewing materials. “And 
see here,” she cried at the end, as she held up a 
little basket in triumph. Heidi peeped into it and 
jumped with joy, for there lay at least a dozen 
beautiful white rolls, all for the grandmother. In 
their delight the children quite forgot that in a 
few minutes they must part, and when suddenly 
they were startled by the cry, “The carriage is 
ready!” there was no time left for tears. 

Heidi ran back to her room ; her beautiful book, 


212 


HEIDI 


the grandmamma’s gift, was still there, under her 
pillow, where she always kept it, for she liked to 
have it with her both by day and night. She put 
it into the basket with the rolls. Then she opened 
the closet to look for another tri^sure which in 
all likelihood had not been packed. And, as she 
had thought, there lay the old red kerchief, for the 
housekeeper had not thought it good enough to 
put into the trunk. Heidi ‘wrapped it carefully 
around another object she had taken from the 
closet, and laid it uppermost in the basket, leav- 
ing the edges of the red bundle quite plainly in 
sight. Then she put on her pretty hat and left 
the room. 

The children had little time in which to say 
good-bye, for Herr Sesemann was standing ready 
to take Heidi down to the carriage. The house- 
keeper stood at the head of the stairs, waiting to 
bid Heidi farewell; when she caught sight of the 
strange red bundle in the child’s basket, she quickly 
drew it forth, and dropping it on the floor, said re- 
provingly 

“No, Adelheid, that is no way in which to leave 
a house like this. There is no need that you should 
take such stuff at all. Now, good-bye!” 

After this rebuke Heidi dared not take her 
bundle again, but she looked so beseechingly at the 
master of the house that one might have supposed 
she was losing her greatest earthly treasure. 


UP THE ALM 


213 


“No, nol” said Herr Sesemann in a tone of de- 
cision. “The child shall take home what pleases 
her; even if it were little kittens or turtles that she 
was taking with her we would not let it excite us, 
Fraulein Rottenmeier.’’ 

With a face beaming with happiness and grati- 
tude Heidi quickly picked her bundle up from the 
floor. 

Down by the carriage Herr Sesemann shook 
hands with the child, saying pleasantly that they 
would often think of her, he and his little daughter. 
Then he wished her God-speed, and Heidi thanked 
him heartily for all the kindness that had been 
shown her, saying in conclusion: — 

“And I want to leave a thousand thanks for the 
doctor, too, with my love,” for she remembered 
very well how the night before he had said: “To- 
morrow it will all be made right.” Now it was 
as he had said, and Heidi thought it must be owing 
to him. 

The child was then lifted into the carriage, and 
the basket, the hamper with provisions and Se- 
bastian followed. Herr Sesemann called out 
cheerily: “A pleasant journey!” and the carriage 
rolled away. 

Very soon Heidi was sitting in the train, hold- 
ing the basket in her lap, for she would not lose 
sight of it for a single moment, knowing that it 


214 


HEIDI 


held all the grandmother’s precious rolls; all day 
she guarded them most carefully, peeping at them 
from time to time to assure herself that they were 
really there and to rejoice over them. Heidi sat 
very still for several hours, for she was beginning 
to realize that she was on the way home to her 
grandfather, the mountains, the grandmother and 
Goat-Peter. And now all the things she expected 
so soon to see rose before her, and she wondered 
how they would look ; this suggested other 
thoughts, until suddenly she asked very anx- 
iously ^ 

“Sebastian, are you sure that the grandmother, 
Peter’s grandmother, has not died?” 

“Oh, no,” said Sebastian soothingly; “let us hope 
not. She’s still alive, I’ve no doubt.” 

Then Heidi fell to musing again, interrupted 
only by a peep into her basket now and then, for 
what she looked forward to most of all was to lay 
all these rolls on the table before the grandmother. 
After some time she said again: — 

“Sebastian, if I could only be quite sure that 
the grandmother is still alive.” 

“Oh, to be sure, to be sure,” replied her com- 
panion only half awake. “I’ve no doubt that she’s 
still alive. I see no reason why she shouldn’t be.” 

By and by Heidi’s eyes also closed in sleep; after 
the broken rest of the night before, and the early 


UP THE ALM 


215 


rising, she was so sleepy that she did not awaken 
until Sebastian shook her by the arm and called 
out : — 

“Wake up! Wake up! It is time to get off; 
we are in Basle!” 

The next morning they continued their journey, 
and again Heidi sat with her basket in her lap, for 
on no condition would she have surrendered it to 
Sebastian. She spoke not at all now, for her eager 
anticipation was growing greater with every hour. 
Then, suddenly, before Heidi had expected it, the 
conductor called out, “Mayenfeld!” She jumped 
to her feet and Sebastian, who had also heard it 
with surprise, did likewise. 

In a few minutes they were standing outside 
on the platform with the big trunk beside them, 
and the train rushing off toward the valley. Se- 
bastian cast a rueful glance after it, for he would 
much rather have continued his journey in the com- 
fortable car and without exertion, than to under- 
take the long tramp now before him, and which 
was to end with a mountain climb that would cer- 
tainly be difficult and, perhaps, dangerous in this 
region where everything was still half wild, as Se- 
bastian thought. He therefore looked cautiously 
about to find some one from whom he could learn 
the safest road to Dorfli. 

Not far from the station stood a hay wagon drawn 


216 


HEIDI 


by a small, lean horse; into this a broad-shouldered 
man was tossing a couple of bags that had come on 
the train. Sebastian stepped up to the man and 
questioned him about the safest road to Dorfli. 

“Here all roads are safe,’’ was the short reply. 

Sebastian now asked to be shown the best way 
to go so as to avoid falling over precipices, and 
also how a trunk could be got to Dorfli. The 
man looked at the trunk to measure it with his 
eye; then he said that if the thing was not too 
heavy he would take it on his wagon as he was go- 
ing to Dorfli himself. One word led to another, 
and when the two men had finished their talk, it 
had been arranged that Heidi and her trunk were 
to go in the wagon with the man as far as Dorfli, 
from where the child could be sent up to her grand- 
father’s with some one who was going up that way 
toward evening. 

“I can go alone; I know the way very well 
from Dorfli to my grandfather’s,” said Heidi who 
had listened attentively to all that was said. 

A heavy load seemed to have been lifted off of 
Sebastian when he found himself thus suddenly re- 
leased from the dreaded mountain journey. He 
beckoned Heidi to one side, and, handing her a 
heavy package together with a letter for her 
grandfather, he told her that the package con- 
tained a present from Herr Sesemann, and she 


UP THE ALM 


217 


must put it at the bottom of her basket, below the 
little rolls even, and must watch it carefully so as 
not to lose it, for Herr Sesemann would be very 
angry if it was lost. The little Mamsell must not 
forget this, he added impressively. 

“I will not lose it,’’ Heidi assured him, and 
stowed the package and letter away at the very 
bottom of the basket. 

Then the trunk was put into the wagon, after 
which Sebastian lifted Heidi with her basket to 
the high seat in front, and, giving her his hand for 
a last good-bye, made all manner of signs to re- 
mind her once more that she must keep an eye on 
the package in the basket; for the driver was still 
within hearing distance, and Sebastian, who was al- 
ways careful, was especially so now, for he knew 
well enough that he ought not to leave the child 
until she was safe at home. 

At last the driver swung himself up to his place 
beside Heidi, and the wagon rolled away toward 
the mountains, while Sebastian, rejoicing over his 
escape from the much-feared climb sat down in the 
little station to wait for the returning train. 

The driver of the wagon was the baker from 
Dorfli, who was taking his bags of flour home. 
He had never seen Heidi, but had known her par- 
ents, and, like everyone else in the village, had heard 
of the little girl who had been left with the Aim- 


218 


HEIDI 


Uncle, and he concluded at once that this must be 
the much-talked-of child. He was a little curious 
now to know why Heidi was coming home so 
soon and so began to talk to her as they drove 
along. 

“I suppose you are the child that staid with the 
Aim-Uncle a while. He’s your grandfather, isn’t 
he?” 

“Yes.” 

“Then you cannot have fared very well, else you 
wouldn’t be home again so soon from such a dis- 
tance.” 

“Oh yes, I did. No one could have been better 
treated than I was in Frankfort.” 

“Then why are you running home?” 

“Only because Herr Sesemann gave me permis- 
sion; otherwise I would not have run home.” 

“Pooh! Why didn’t you stay, even though they 
did let you go home?” 

“Because I would a thousand times rather be at 
home with grandfather on the Aim than anywhere 
else in the world.” 

“Perhaps you will think differently when you 
get there,” muttered the baker, and then continued 
to himself: “But it does seem strange; she ought 
to know best what to expect.” 

Then he began to whistle and said no more. 
Heidi looked about her and began to tremble with 


UP THE ALM 


219 


excitement, for now she recognized the trees along 
the road, and over yonder the high cliffs of Falk- 
niss mountain were outlined against the sky, and 
seemed to be looking at her and greeting her like 
old friends. Heidi nodded a greeting in return, 
and with every step forward she grew more impa- 
tient, until she felt as though she must jump out 
of the wagon and run as fast as she could to her 
journey’s end. But she remained sitting where 
she was and did not stir, although she was all 
a-quiver. 

Just as the clock struck five they drove into 
Dorfli. Instantly a crowd of women and children 
gathered around the wagon, and soon a few men 
came too, for the trunk and child on the baker’s 
wagon had attracted the attention of the whole 
neighborhood, and everyone wanted to know to 
whom they belonged, whence they had come and 
whither they were going. When the baker had 
lifted Heidi out of the wagon, she said hur- 
riedly : — 

“Thank you; my grandfather will come after 
the trunk.” 

Then she turned and would have hastened away, 
but from every side detaining hands were laid 
upon her, and many voices asked each a different 
question. The child’s face wore such an anxious 
look as she tried to force her way through the 


220 


HEIDI 


crowd that unconsciously those who saw her 
stepped aside and let her run on, one saying to an- 
other : — 

“See how afraid she is! And there is good rea- 
son for it, too!” 

Then they began to tell one another that the 
Alm-Uncle had grown much worse during the 
past year, and that now he never spoke to anyone, 
but looked as though he would like to kill everyone 
that crossed his path; to this they added that if 
the child had any other place in the world to which 
she could go she never would run up to that old 
dragon’s nest. 

But at this point the baker broke in, saying that 
he believed he knew more about it than did any of 
the others. Then he told them in a very confiden- 
tial manner how a gentleman had come with Heidi 
as far as Mayenfeld, where he had parted from 
her in a most friendly way; and that he had not 
only paid him for carrying the child, without so 
much as higgling about the price, but in parting, 
had even given him a little gift of money beside. 
To this the baker added that he was quite sure 
that the child had been kindly treated where she 
had been, but that she had nevertheless wished to 
return to her grandfather. 

This piece of news was heard with the utmost 
astonishment, and was immediately carried all 


UP THE ALM 


221 


over Dorfli, so that by night-fall there was not a 
house in the village where Heidi’s wish to leave a 
life of luxury for the sake of returning to her 
grandfather was not being discussed. 

Leaving Dorfli, Heidi ran up the mountain-side 
as fast as her feet could carry her; but now and 
then she found herself compelled to stop to get 
her breath ; the basket on her arm was quite heavy, 
too, and the path grew steeper and steeper, the 
higher up she got. The child had but one thought 
now: “Will I And the grandmother alive, and will 
she be sitting in her corner beside her spinning 
wheel as usual?” 

Before very long she caught sight of the little 
house in the depression of the mountain, and her 
heart began to throb; she ran faster, and louder 
and louder grew the beating of her heart. Now 
she was there; she was trembling so that she could 
hardly open the door ; at last — she sprang into the 
middle of the tiny room and stood there, so out of 
breath that she could not utter a word. 

“Merciful heaven!” cried a voice from out of 
the corner, “that is the way our Heidi used to run 
into the house. Ah, if I could only have her with 
me once more before I die! Who came in just 
now?” 

“Here I am, grandmother! Here I am!” cried 
Heidi, rushing to the grandmother and falling on 


222 


HEIDI 


her knees beside her; then she took hold of her 
arms and her hands, and nestled close to her, un- 
able to speak for very joy. At first the grand- 
mother’s surprise was so great, that she too could 
not utter a word; then she passed her hand over 
Heidi’s curly head, saying again and again:— 

“Yes, yes; this is her hair, and it is her voice, 
too. Oh, dear God, I thank thee that she has 
come again!” and from out the sightless eyes two 
great tears of joy fell down on Heidi’s hands. 
“Is it really you? Are you really here again?” 

“Yes, really, grandmother, really!” Heidi as- 
sured her. “Do not cry; I am really here, and will 
come to see you every day, and will never go away 
again. And it will be many a day before you need 
eat hard black bread, for, see here, grandmother, 
see here!” 

And Heidi took one little roll after another out 
of her basket until they all lay in a heap in the 
grandmother’s lap. 

“Oh, child! Dear child! What a blessing you 
bring with you !” cried the grandmother, when roll 
after roll came forth as though they would never 
end. “But you yourself are the greatest blessing 
of all!” she added as she stroked Heidi’s curly 
head again and patted her hot cheek. “Speak to 
me again, child ! Say another word, so that I may 
hear your voice again.” 


UP THE ALM 


223 


Heidi now told the grandmother how much she 
had feared that her old friend might have died 
while she was away, and that she would never, 
never see her again, and all the little white rolls 
would come too late. 

Presently the door opened and Peter’s mother 
came in, but on seeing Heidi stood motionless with 
astonishment, and exclaimed: — 

“Surely, this is Heidi! But how can it be pos- 
sible!” 

Heidi rose and shook hands with Brigitte who 
could not find words enough to express her aston- 
ishment at Heidi’s appearance. Walking all 
round the child, to see her from every side, she 
said : — 

“Grandmother, if you could only see what a 
beautiful dress Heidi has on, and how she looks in 
it! I hardly knew her.” And, turning to Heidi, 
“Is the hat with the feathers, lying yonder on the 
table, yours too? Put it on, and let me see how 
you look in it.” 

“No, I don’t want to,” was Heidi’s very decided 
answer. “You may have it. I do not need it any 
more; besides, I still have my old one.” 

So saying, Heidi opened her red bundle and 
took out her little straw hat, to whose many dents 
the journey in the basket had added a few more. 
But this troubled Heidi very little; she had not 


224 


HEIDI 


forgotten that the last words she had heard her 
grandfather say were that he never wanted to see 
her in a hat with feathers on it. That was why 
she had been so anxious to keep her old hat, for she 
had always looked forward to this home-coming. 

But Brigitte reproved her for being so foolish, 
telling her that it was a beautiful hat, and that she 
could not think of accepting it; if Heidi really did 
not want to wear it, she could sell it for a good 
price; perhaps the Dorfli school-master would buy 
it for his little daughter. Heidi did not change 
her mind, however, but quietly laid the hat in the 
corner behind the grandmother, where it would not 
be noticed. Without a word the child slipped out 
of her pretty dress and stood there, bare-armed, in 
her little petticoat; then she tied the red kerchief 
round her shoulders and, taking the grandmother’s 
hand in hers, said : — 

“Now I must go home, grandmother; but to- 
morrow I will come again. Good-night, grand- 
mother!” 

“Yes, do come again, Heidi; do come to-mor- 
row,” was the grandmother’s pleading reply as she 
held Heidi’s hand in both her own, and could 
hardly let the child go. 

“Why did you take off your fine dress?” asked 
Brigitte. 

“Because I would rather go to grandfather this 


UP THE ALM 


225 


way, for fear he might not know me.^ You said 
yourself that you hardly knew me when I had it 
on/’ 

Heidi bade her ‘‘Good-night,” and, with her 
basket on her arm, began to climb up toward the 
Aim. The green mountain slope was bright with 
the rays of the setting sun, and soon the great 
snow-field on Casaplana came in view glittering in 
the sunlight. After every few steps Heidi stood 
still and looked backward, for as she climbed up, 
the high mountains lay behind her. Suddenly the 
grass at her feet became tinged with red; she turned 
- — ^and lo! a splendor such as neither her memory 
nor her dreams had ever painted. The jagged 
peaks of Falkniss flamed red against the sky, the 
great snow-field was aglow, while rosy clouds 
drifted across it. The grass on the mountain-side 
had turned to gold, every cliff shimmered and 
shone, and far below, the valley lay afloat in a sea 
of golden mist. 

Heidi stood in the midst of all this splendor, and 
so great was her happiness and joy that the tears 
rolled down her cheeks as she folded her hands and 
looked up to heaven to thank the dear God for 
bringing her home again, and because everything 
was so beautiful, so much more beautiful than she 
had thought, and that it was all hers once more. 
And the child felt so glad, and so rich in this 


226 


HEIDI 


wealth of beauty about her that she could not find 
words in which to express her gratitude to the dear 
God in heaven. Not until the light began to fade 
could she move from the spot; but then she ran so 
quickly up the mountain that it was not long be- 
fore she saw the tops of the pine trees above the 
roof, and at last the hut itself with her grandfather 
sitting on the bench in front of it, smoking his pipe, 
while above the hut the old pine trees swayed and 
sighed in the evening breeze. Now Heidi ran 
faster than ever, and before the Aim-Uncle knew 
what it was that was coming up the mountain so 
fast, the child was at his side. Dropping her 
basket on the ground she threw her arms around 
the old man’s neck, and cried: — 

“Grandfather, grandfather, grandfather!” for 
this was all she could say in the joy of seeing him 
again. 

The old man also had nothing to say. For the 
first time in many years his eyes were wet with 
tears and he had to dry them with the back of his 
hand. Then he unclasped Heidi’s arms from 
about his neck and set the child upon his knee; 
after looking down at her a moment, he said: — 

“So you have come home, Heidi; how did that 
happen? Very proud you do not look; did they 
send you away?” 

“Oh, no, grandfather; you must not think that,” 



Before the Aim- Uncle knew what it was, the child was 

at his side. 



UP THE ALM 


227 


Heidi began very earnestly; “they were all very 
good to me, Klara and the grandmamma and Herr 
Sesemann. But you see, grandfather, I could 
hardly stand it until I could get home again to 
you, and sometimes it seemed to me I could not 
breathe for the lump in my throat. But I did not 
say anything, for that would have been ungrateful. 
Then all at once Herr Sesemann sent for me early 
one morning; I think the Herr Doctor had some- 
thing to do with that — but perhaps the letter tells 
all about it.” With these words Heidi jumped to 
her feet, and quickly took the letter and package 
out of her basket and laid them in her grand- 
father’s hand. 

“That belongs to you,” said he, laying the pack- 
age on the bench beside her. Then he read the 
letter, and without a word, put it into his pocket. 

“Do you think you could drink some milk with 
me, Heidi?” he asked as he took the child by the 
hand and went toward the door of the hut. “But 
take your money with you, Heidi ; it will buy a bed 
and bedding, and clothes enough to last you a 
couple of years.” 

“Indeed, I do not need it, grandfather,” Heidi 
assured him; “for I have a bed, and Klara packed 
so many clothes into my trunk that I shall never 
need any more.” 

“Take it, take it, child, and put it away in the 
closet; some day you will find a use for it.” 


228 


HEIDI 


Heidi obeyed and hopping and skipping, fol- 
lowed her grandfather into the house. Here she 
ran from one corner to another in the joy of greet- 
ing all the old familiar things; then she climbed up 
the ladder to the loft, but came to a sudden stop, 
and cried down in great alarm:—* 

“Oh, grandfather, my bed is gone!” 

“It will soon be back,” came the answer from 
below. “I did not know that you were coming 
home. Now come down and get some milk.” 

Heidi ran down and, fetching her high chair, 
seated herself in her accustomed place. Taking 
up her little bowl she set it to her lips and drank 
eagerly, as though she had never had anything so 
good in all her life before; when she had drained 
it, she set it down, and drawing a deep breath, 
said : — 

“There is nothing in the world as good as our 
milk, grandfather!” 

Suddenly a shrill whistle was heard without; 
like a flash Heidi was out of the door. There, 
from the heights above, came the whole flock of 
goats, skipping, jumping, leaping into the air, and 
Goat-Peter in their midst. When he saw Heidi 
he stood as though rooted to the ground, and stared 
at her in speechless amazement. Heidi called out: 
“Good-evening, Peter!” and rushed in among the 
goats, crying: — 


UP THE ALM 


229 


“Swanli! Bearli! It is I! Don’t you know 
me?” 

The little creatures must have recognized her 
voice, for instantly they began to bleat in an agi- 
tated manner, and Heidi called them all by name 
as they ran frantically about and pushed one 
another in their joy and eagerness to get near her. 
That impatient fellow. Goldfinch, took a leap over 
two of the other goats, so as to get close to her, and 
even timid little Snowhopli wedged her way 
through most persistently, even pushing aside the 
big Turk who looked amazed at such impudence 
and raised his bearded chin high in the air to show 
that it was he who was being thus treated. 

Heidi was almost beside herself with joy at see- 
ing all her old play-fellows once more; again and 
again she threw her arms around delicate little 
Snowhopli’s neck and stroked the glossy coat of 
boisterous Goldfinch, never heeding the familiar 
way in which she was being pushed from side to 
side by the goats in their ardor, until she found 
herself close beside Peter who had not moved from 
the spot. 

‘‘Come down, Peter, and say ‘Good-evening,’ ” 
Heidi called to him. 

“So you have come back, have you?” the boy’s 
surprise at length allowed him to say, as he came 
nearer and took Heidi’s hand which she had been 


230 


HEIDI 


holding out to him for some time. Then he asked 
as he always had when parting from Heidi after 
a day spent up on the pasture : — 

“Are you coming with us again to-morrow?’’ 

“Not to-morrow, but the day after, perhaps. 
To-morrow I must go to the grandmother’s.” 

“It is good that you are back again,” said Peter, 
drawing his face into wonderful wrinkles of de- 
light; then he turned homeward. But he found 
his goats more unmanageable than ever before, for, 
when with coaxing and driving he had at length 
succeeded in gathering them all around himself, 
they suddenly turned about and all ran after Heidi 
who was walking with one arm around Bearli’s 
neck and the other around Swanli’s. Heidi had 
to go into the stable with her goats, and close the 
door after her, else Peter would never have got off 
with his flock at all. 

When the child returned to the hut she found 
her bed all ready for her, the fragrant hay, only 
recently mowed, was piled high, and over it the 
grandfather had carefully spread the clean sheet 
and coverlet. It was a great joy to Heidi to climb 
into it, and she slept more soundly than she had for 
over a year. 

During the night her grandfather left his bed 
no less than ten times and, softly mounting the 
ladder, listened to assure himself that Heidi was 


UP THE ALM 


231 


asleep and not tossing restlessly. Then he would 
feel for the round loophole to learn whether the 
hay with which he had carefully closed it was still 
firmly in place; for henceforth the moon must not 
be allowed to shine on Heidi’s couch. 

But the child slept on without once waking, and 
did not stir from her bed, for now her great and 
burning desire was fulfilled: she had seen all the 
peaks and cliif s bathed in the sunset glow ; she had 
heard the old pine trees sigh in the evening wind; 
she was at home again. 


CHAPTER XIV 


ON SUNDAY^ WHEN CHURCH BELLS RING 

H eidi was standing under the swaying 
pine trees waiting for her grandfather, who 
was going down with her to get the trunk 
in Dorfli while she staid with the grandmother. 
The child could hardly wait to see the grand- 
mother again and hear how she had liked the rolls ; 
and yet the waiting did not seem long, for she 
could not get enough of the familiar music that 
the wind made in the pine trees, nor of the 
fragrance and beauty of the green mountain slopes 
sprinkled with golden flower-cups. Her grand- 
father now came out of the hut and after giving a 
scrutinizing glance all round, said in a satisfled 
tone of voice:—* 

“So, now we can go.” 

It was Saturday, the day on which the Alm- 
Uncle cleaned up and set everything in order in 
the hut, the stable and round about; that was his 
habit, and to-day he had devoted the whole morn- 
ing to it, so that early in the afternoon he might 
go with Heidi; and this was why he now gave 
everything a glance of approval. 

In front of Goat-Peter’s house he and Heidi 


WHEN CHURCH BELLS RING 233 


parted, and the little girl ran in. The grand- 
mother had recognized her step at once and called 
out lovingly:— 

‘Ts it you, child? Have you come again?” 

Then she took Heidi’s hand and held it tightly 
in hers, as though she feared the child might be 
taken away from her again. The grandmother 
was now asked to tell how she had liked the little 
rolls, and in answer said they were delicious, and 
that she thought she felt stronger to-day than she 
had for a long time. To this Peter’s mother added 
that the grandmother was so anxious to make the 
rolls last a long time that she had eaten only one 
since she had received them the day before; but 
that she believed her mother would grow quite 
strong again if she ate one a day for a whole week. 
Heidi listened very earnestly to what Brigitte said, 
and for some time afterward looked very thought- 
ful. At last she had solved her problem. 

‘T know what we will do, grandmother,” she 
said with glad eagerness; ‘T will write Klara and 
ask her for some more rolls, and then, I know, she 
will send us as many as you have now, and perhaps 
twice as many, for I had quite a large heap of them 
when they were taken away from me. And Klara 
promised to give me just as many as I had, and I 
am sure she will do it.” 

“Why that is a good idea,” said Brigitte; “but 


234 


HEIDI 


think how stale they will growl If we only had a 
little spare money! The baker down in Dorfli 
makes just such rolls, but it is all I can do to pay 
for the black bread we eat.” 

A look of delight suddenly came into Heidi’s 
face. 

“Oh, I have a great lot of money, grand- 
mother,” she cried in high glee, as she danced about 
with joy, “and I know just what I will do with itl 
Every day you shall have a roll, and two on Sun- 
days, and Peter can bring them home with him 
from Dorfli.” 

“No, no, child; that will not do,” remonstrated 
the grandmother; “that is not what the money was 
intended for. Give it to your grandfather, and he 
will tell you how to spend it.” 

But Heidi would not be turned from her pur- 
pose, and in her delight skipped about the room, 
crying over and over again: — 

“Now the grandmother can have a roll every 
day, and get real strong again, and — oh, grand- 
mother,” she cried in sudden joy, “if you get well 
and strong, it will grow light for you again, too, 
won’t it? Perhaps it is only because you are 
weak.” 

The grandmother said nothing, for she did not 
wish to mar the child’s happiness. 

In dancing around the room Heidi had caught 


WHEN CHURCH BELLS RING 235 


sight of the grandmother’s old hymn book, and it 
suggested another happy thought to her. 

“Grandmother,” she said, “I can read now. 
Shall I read for you out of your hymn book?” 

“Oh, yes!” said the grandmother in glad sur- 
prise. “But can you do it, child? Can you really 
read?” 

Heidi climbed on a chair and got down the old 
book from where it lay covered with dust, for it 
had not been touched for a long time. She dusted 
it tidily, and, seating herself on the footstool at the 
grandmother’s side, asked her what she would like 
to hear, 

“Anything you please, child; anything you 
please,” was the grandmother’s answer as she 
pushed her wheel a little to one side and then 
waited eagerly. 

Heidi turned the pages and read a line here and 
there to herself. 

“Here is something about the sun; I will read 
that to you, grandmother,” she said, and began to 
read ^ 


“THe sun is beaming. 

Awake from dreaming! 

Behold its gladness. 

And leave thy sadness; 

The light that it sheds is God’s gift to thee. 


236 


HEIDI 


“Hast thou a sorrow? 

Then hope for the morrow! 

’Tis not by groaning, 

Or piteous moaning 

That eyes are opened God’s goodness to see. 

“With sight God-given, 

Look up to heaven. 

And seeing its glory. 

Read there the story 
Of infinite power and merciful might. 

‘‘There the pure-hearted. 

From earth departed. 

Freed of life’s burden. 

Shall find the guerdon 
That awaits the children of light. 

“What here we cherish. 

Ere long must perish; 

But God endureth; 

His word assureth 

Each doubting heart of His undying love. 

“His mercy sought us; 

His grace hath taught us 
When hearts are aching 
Well nigh to breaking, 

Their pain shall be healed with balm from above. 

“And none shall be weary; 

No days be dreary; 


WHEN CHURCH BELLS RING 237 


Earth’s struggle ended, 

To heav’n ascended 

Thou’lt rejoice in the sun that knows no night. 


‘*Sweet peace, unbounded, 

Deep love, unsounded, 

Joy without measure. 

And purest pleasure 

Await thee there, in heav’n’s garden so bright.” 


The grandmother sat with folded hands and with 
an expression of unutterable joy on her face, such 
as Heidi had never seen there before, although the 
tears were coursing down the withered cheeks. 
When Heidi had finished, the grandmother said 
pleadingly : — 

“Oh, once more, Heidi ; let me hear it once more ; 


‘And non« shall be weary; 
No days be dreary — * ” 


And the child began again and read with a 
strange feeling of joy and longing: — 

“And none shall be weary; 

No days be dreary; 

Earth’s struggle ended. 

To heav’n ascended 

Thou’lt rejoice in the sun that knows no night. 


238 


HEIDI 


“Sweet peace^ unbounded, 

Deep love, unsounded, 

Joy without measure 
And purest pleasure 

Await thee there, in heav’n’s garden so bright.” 

“Oh, Heidi, that gives me light; that sheds a 
new light into my heart. Oh, what great happi- 
ness you have brought me, Heidi!” 

Again and again the grandmother repeated the 
message of joy, while Heidi’s faee beamed with 
pleasure. The child could not take her eyes off of 
the grandmother’s face, for never before had she 
seen her look like this. She had lost her careworn 
expression, and, instead, her face wore a cheerful 
and grateful look, as though even now she beheld 
heaven’s garden so bright. 

A rap on the window was now heard, and Heidi 
saw her grandfather beckoning her to come out. 
She obeyed at once, but before she went, assured 
the grandmother that to-morrow she would cer- 
tainly come again; for even should she go to the 
pasture with Peter, she would stay only half the 
day, and then come down to her. For to be able 
to give the grandmother light, and to see her look 
so happy, was a greater pleasure to Heidi than 
anything else, even greater than to spend the day 
on the sunny pasture with the beautiful flowers 
and merry goats. 


WHEN CHURCH BELLS RING 239 


Brigitte ran after the child as far as the door to 
give her the hat and dress she had left the day 
before; Heidi took the dress, since there was no 
longer any danger that her grandfather would not 
know her; but the hat she stubbornly refused to 
touch, declaring that she would never put it on her 
head again, never. 

Heidi’s heart was so full of her latest experience, 
that she had to tell her grandfather all about it as 
soon as she saw him; that the little while rolls for 
the grandmother could be bought down in Dorfli, 
if there were only money enough to pay for them; 
and how light and happiness had all at once come 
to the grandmother. When she had told him all 
this, she went back to her first thought, and said 
very confidently: — 

“And grandfather, even though the grand- 
mother doesn’t wish it, you will give me all the 
money in the package, won’t you? So that I can 
give Peter enough for a roll for every day of the 
week, and two on Sundays; won’t you, grand- 
father?” 

“But the bed, Heidi,” said her grandfather; “a 
real bed would be a good thing, and even after that 
is bought there will still be money enough left to 
pay for many a roll.” 

But Heidi gave her grandfather no peace, tell- 
ing him that she had slept much better on her bed 


240 


HEIDI 


of hay than ever she had on the feather pillows in 
Frankfort; and so persistently did she plead, that 
finally her grandfather yielded, saying: — 

“The money is yours; spend it as pleases you; it 
will buy bread for the grandmother for a long, long 
time,” 

Heidi gave a shout of joy. 

“Now the grandmother will never have to eat 
hard black bread any more,” she cried. “And oh, 
grandfather, everything is better now than it ever 
was before in all our lives, isn’t it?” 

And with her hand still in her grandfather’s, the 
happy child danced up and down with joy, giving 
little glad cries now and then, like a merry bird 
of the air. Suddenly she grew very serious, and 
said: — 

“But oh, grandfather, if the dear God had given 
me right away what I prayed for so hard, it would 
all have been different; then I would have come 
home at once, and the grandmother would have had 
only a few rolls, and I should not have been able 
to read to her what does her so much good. But 
the dear God had planned it all so much better 
than I thought; the grandmamma told me so, and 
now it has all come as she said. Oh, how glad I am 
that the dear God did not do as I asked when I 
begged and cried so hard! 

“But now I will always pray as the grand- 


WHEN CHURCH BELLS RING 241 


mamma told me, and thank the dear God; and 
when he does not give me what I ask, I will think : 
‘Perhaps it is just as it was in Frankfort, and the 
dear God probably knows of something much bet- 
ter for me.’ But we will pray every day now, 
won’t we, grandfather? And never forget the dear 
God, and then He will never forget us either.” 

“And if a person does forget Him, what then?” 
muttered the grandfather. 

“Oh, he will never be happy, for then the dear 
God will forget him, too, and let him go his own 
way, and then when he gets into trouble, no one 
will be sorry for him, but everyone will say: ‘He 
turned away from the dear God first, and now the 
dear God, who alone could help him, leaves him to 
take care of himself.’ ” 

“That is very true, Heidi. How did you learn 
it?” 

“The grandmamma told me. She explained it 
all to me.” 

“The grandfather walked on a while in silence. 
Then, following the train of his thoughts, he said, 
more to himself than to the child: — 

“And if it is so, it stays so; no man can turn hack; 
and whom the Lord has forgotten. He has for- 
gotten.” 

“Oh no, grandfather; a man can turn back. I 
know that from what the grandmamma said; and 


242 


HEIDI 


then it is like the beautiful story in the book. But 
you don’t know that. Well, we are almost home 
now, and then you shall hear for yourself what a 
beautiful story it is.” 

In her eagerness, Heidi went faster and faster 
up the last slope, and hardly had she reached the 
top when she dropped her grandfather’s hand and 
ran into the hut. 

The old man let the basket he had on his back 
slip to the ground; he had put into it half of what 
was in Heidi’s trunk, for the whole would have 
been too heavy for him. Then he sat down on the 
bench and remained lost in thought. Presently 
Heidi came running out with her big book under 
her arm. 

‘‘Oh, how nice, grandfather, that you are sitting 
here already,” she said, and with a spring she was 
on the bench beside him with her book open at the 
story, for she had read it so often that the book fell 
open at the right page. 

Then the child began to read with great earnest- 
ness about the son who had a good home, where fat 
cows and sheep grazed in his father’s pastures; 
and from where he stood among them, in his fine 
coat and leaning on his shepherd’s staff, he could 
see the beautiful sunset, just as it was all shown in 
the picture. “But one day he asked his father to 
give him his portion and let him go where he would 


WHEN CHURCH BELLS RING 243 


be his own master. Then he went into a far coun- 
try and wasted all he had; and when it was gone, 
he hired himself out as a servant to a farmer who 
had no fine cows and sheep like those in his father’s 
pasture, but only pigs; these he tended, dressed 
only in rags, and eating of the husks with which he 
fed the pigs. Then he remembered how well he 
had fared at home, and how good his father had 
been to him, and how ungrateful he himself had 
been, and he wept with bitter remorse and home- 
sickness. And he thought: T will go to my father, 
and ask him to forgive me, and will say: “Father, 
I am no more worthy to be called thy son; make 
me as one of thy hired servants.” ’ And as he 
approached the house his father saw him from afar, 
and ran out to meet him” — 

“And what do you think is coming next, grand- 
father?” Heidi here interrupted the story. “You 
think the father will be angry, and say: ‘Didn’t I 
tell you it would be so?’ But just hear what he 
does. ‘And when he beheld his son, he felt sorry 
for him, and he fell on his neck and kissed him. 
And the son said: “Father, I have sinned against 
heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to 
be called thy son.” But the father said to his 
servants: “Bring forth quickly the best robe, and 
put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes 
on his feet; and bring the fatted calf, and kill it. 


244 


HEIDI 


and let us eat and be merry; for this, my son, was 
dead, and is alive again ; he was lost, and is found.” 
And they began to be merry.’ 

“Isn’t it a beautiful story, grandfather?” asked 
Heidi, as the old man still sat silent when she had 
expected him to be surprised and delighted. 

“Yes, Heidi, it is a beautiful story,” said her 
grandfather; but his face looked so grave that 
Heidi, too, grew silent and looked at her pictures. 
Then the child made another, last attempt. Softly 
she pushed her book toward her grandfather, and 
pointed to the picture of the returned wanderer 
standing beside his father, freshly clad and happy, 
a reclaimed son. “See how happy he is,” she said. 

A few hours later, while Heidi lay fast asleep, 
her grandfather climbed up the little ladder; when 
he reached the child’s bedside he set down his lamp, 
and the light fell on the sleeping child. She lay 
with folded hands, for she had not forgotten to 
pray; her rosy little face wore a look of sweetest 
peace and trust, that must have had its message 
for her grandfather, for he stood there a long, long 
time and did not stir, his eyes fixed on the sleeping 
little one before him. At last he, too, folded his 
hands, and with bowed head, said softly: — 

“Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy 
sight and am no more worthy to be called thy son,” 
and two great tears rolled down the old man’s 
cheeks. 


WHEN CHURCH BELLS RING 245 


Not many hours later, the Aim-Uncle stood be- 
fore his hut, and looked about him with a new light 
in his eyes. The soft sunshine of an early Sunday 
morning lay on mountain and valley. Now and 
then the sound of church bells was wafted up from 
the valley below, while above him, in the old pine 
trees, the birds were blithely singing their morning 
carols. After a little while the grandfather went 
into the hut, and called up to the loft: — 

“Come, Heidi! The sun is up. Put on a good 
dress, and we will go to church together.” 

Heidi did not keep him waiting long, for this 
was an entirely new call from her grandfather, and 
must be quickly obeyed. In a few minutes she 
came tripping down in one of her pretty Frank- 
fort dresses, but when she saw her grandfather, 
she stopped in surprise, and looked at him. 

“Oh, grandfather!” she exclaimed; “never before 
have I seen you look like this ! And that coat with 
the silver buttons! Have you ever worn it before? 
Oh, you are so handsome in your beautiful Sunday 
clothes !” 

The old man smiled pleasantly down at the 
child, and said: — 

“And you in yours. Now come!” and taking 
Heidi’s hand in his, they went together down the 
mountain. 

From every side the music of the church bells 


246 


HEIDI 


greeted them, sounding fuller and stronger as they 
came nearer to them. Heidi listened enchanted, 
and said: — 

“Do you hear, grandfather? It is like a great, 
great holiday.” 

Down in Dorfli the people were already at 
church and were just beginning to sing as Heidi 
and her grandfather came in and took the farthest 
seat back. But in the midst of the singing the 
person who saw them first nudged his neighbor, 
and said: — - 

“Did you see that? The Aim-Uncle has come 
to church.” 

^ And the one who received the nudge passed it on 
to his neighbor, and so on, until in the shortest 
possible time, it was being whispered in every cor- 
ner of the church: “The Alm-Uncle! The Alm- 
Uncle!” 

Nearly all the women had to turn their heads at 
least for a moment, and many of them lost the 
time, so that the leader found it hard to keep the 
hymn going. 

But when the pastor began to preach they were 
inattentive no longer, for there was such earnest 
praise and thanksgiving in what he said that all his 
hearers were touched, and it seemed as though 
some great joy had come to them all. 

When the service was over, the Alm-Uncle took 


WHEN CHURCH BELLS RING 247 


the child by the hand and turned toward the par- 
sonage. All the people who went out with him, 
or were already outside, looked after him, and most 
of them even followed him to see if he was really 
going into the parsonage. When he did so, they 
stood about in little groups, and in great excite- 
ment discussed this unheard-of -event, that the 
Aim-Uncle had actually come to church. And all 
eyes were turned to the parsonage in great ex- 
pectancy to see how the Uncle would come out; 
whether in anger and resentment, or at peace with 
the pastor; for nobody knew what had brought the 
old man down, nor what it all meant. 

But many had already changed their minds 
about him, and one said to another: “The Alm- 
Uncle is probably not as bad as he is painted; just 
see how carefully he holds the little one by the 
hand.” And the other replied: “That is what I 
always said. And he wouldn’t go to see the pastor 
if he were so very wicked, for he would he afraid. 
People do exaggerate so!” And the baker said: 
“Didn’t I tell you so first of all? Who ever heard 
of a little child that would willingly leave a home 
where there was plenty to eat and drink, and where 
she was well treated, and, turning her back on all 
this, run back to a grandfather who was so cross 
and wicked that she was afraid of him?” 

And this new feeling of kindness toward the 


248 


HEIDI 


Alm-Uncle was so catching that soon there were 
more for him than against him, especially as the 
women now joined the group, and more than one 
of them had something to tell that she had heard 
from Goat-Peter’s mother or grandmother, and 
which showed the Alm-Uncle in a very different 
light from that in which he had generally been re- 
garded. They were all willing to believe it now, 
and gradually began to feel as though they were 
waiting to welcome back among them an old friend 
whom they had sorely missed. 

Meanwhile the Alm-Uncle had knocked at the 
door of the study and stood waiting ; it was opened 
by the pastor himself who stepped forward to meet 
him without any sign of surprise, but rather as 
though he had expected this visitor whose unusual 
appearance in church could not have escaped him. 
He grasped the old man’s hand and shook it re- 
peatedly in the most friendly manner. It was 
some time before the Alm-Uncle found his voice, 
for he had not expected so cordial a welcome. At 
last he said: — 

‘T have come to ask the Herr Pastor to forget 
the words I spoke to him up on the mountain, and 
not to remember it against me that I rejected his 
well-meant advice. The Herr Pastor was right in 
all he said and I was wrong ; but I intend to follow 
his advice and take a house in Dorfli during the 


WHEN CHURCH BELLS RING 249 


winter, for it is too severe a season up yonder for 
a delicate child. And if my neighbors look at me 
askance, as though I were not to be trusted, I must 
remember that I deserve it; and the Herr Pastor 
will not do so, I am sure.” 

The kindly eyes of the pastor beamed with pleas- 
ure. He took the old man’s hand in his once more 
and pressed it heartily; then he said with emo- 
tion ; — 

“Neighbor, you must have been in the right 
church before ever you came to mine, and I rejoice 
with you. You shall not regret coming down to 
live among us again; and as for me, you will always 
find the welcome of a good friend and neighbor at 
my house, and I am looking forward to many a 
pleasant winter evening with you, for I enjoy and 
prize your company greatly. And for the little 
girl we will find friends, too.” 

With the last words the pastor laid his hand on 
Heidi’s curly head, and, taking the child by the 
hand, walked to the door with her grandfather. 
There he bade him good-bye, standing in the door- 
way where all the people outside could see how the 
Herr Pastor shook the Alm-Uncle’s hand again 
and again, as though he were his best friend from 
whom he was sorry to part. 

Hardly had the pastor’s door closed before all 
the people began to crowd around the Alm-Uncle, 


250 


HEIDI 


each one trying to be the first to greet him ; and so 
many were the hands that were held out to him 
that it was hard for him to decide which one to 
take first. One neighbor called out to him: “I am 
glad, Uncle, I am glad to see you among us once 
more!” and another; “I have long wanted to have 
a word with you. Uncle!” And so they called and 
crowded from every side, and when the Aim-Uncle 
replied to all these friendly greetings by saying 
that he intended to occupy his old quarters in 
Dorfii again and spend the winter among his old 
neighbors, such a shout arose that one would have 
supposed the Alm-Uncle to be the most popular 
person in Dorfii, whose company everyone had 
missed with regret. 

Many of the good people accompanied the old 
man and his grandchild for some distance up the 
mountain, and when at last they bade him good- 
bye, nearly all of them wanted the Alm-Uncle to 
promise to come to see them when next he passed 
through Dorfii. When they had all turned back 
and were going down the mountain, the old man 
stood looking after them a long time with so 
friendly a glow on his face that it seemed as though 
the sun had risen within him and was sending its 
beams outward. The child, who had been regard- 
ing him for a long time, suddenly exclaimed:— 

‘‘Grandfather, you are growing more and more 


WHEN CHURCH BELLS RING 251 


beautiful to-day. I have never seen you look like 
this before!” 

“Do you think so?” asked her grandfather with 
a smile. “Well, you see, Heidi, everything has 
gone so well with me to-day — better than I deserve 
or can understand. And to be at peace with God 
and man makes the heart light. The dear Lord 
was very good to me when He sent you up to the 
Aim.” 

When they reached Goat-Peter’s hut the Uncle 
opened the door and stepped in, saying: — 

“A good-day to you, grandmother! I think we 
will have to do some more mending before the 
autumn winds begin to blow.” 

“Dear me, that is the Uncle!” cried the grand- 
mother in glad surprise. “To think that I should 
live to see this day! Now I can thank you myself 
for all your kindness to us. May the good Lord 
repay you. Uncle! May the good Lord repay 
you!” 

And trembling with joy the old grandmother 
held out her hand to the Alm-Uncle, who shook it 
warmly. Then, still holding his hand in hers, she 
continued : — 

“There is one favor I want to ask of you. Uncle; 
if ever I have done you any wrong, do not punish 
me for it by letting Heidi go away again before I 
myself am laid away in the church-yard. Oh, you 


252 


HEIDI 


do not know all the child is to me!’’ and she put her 
arm around Heidi, who had crept close to her. 

“Never fear, grandmother,” was the Uncle’s 
soothing reply; “I have no wish to punish either 
you or myself in that way. Now we are together 
and, God willing, will stay so for many a year.” 

Now Brigitte drew the Uncle to one side in a 
confidential way. Showing him the pretty feather- 
trimmed hat, she told him how it had come into her 
possession, saying that of course she could not 
accept such a gift from a child. 

But the grandfather gave Heidi a glance of 
approval, and said: — 

“The hat is hers; if she does not want to put it 
on her head again, she is right ; and if she gave it to 
you, why, keep it.” 

Brigitte was much pleased at this unexpected 
decision. 

“It surely is worth ten pfennigs or more; just 
see 1” she cried, holding the hat high above her head 
in her delight. 

“What a blessing Heidi brought with her from 
Frankfort ! I have lately been wondering whether 
it would not be a good plan to send Peterli to 
Frankfort. What do you think of it. Uncle?” 

An amused twinkle came into the Uncle’s eyes 
as he replied that it certainly could do Peter no 
harm, but he advised Brigitte to await some good 
opportunity. 


WHEN CHURCH BELLS RING 253 


At this moment Peter himself came stumbling 
into the room after he had first run his head against 
the door so violently that everything in the little 
room quaked. Peterli must have been pressed for 
time. Panting for breath, he stood in the middle 
of the room holding out a letter. This was indeed 
a most unusual event, one that had never occurred 
before — a letter addressed to Heidi, and which had 
been given him at the postoffice in Ddrfli. 

Now they all drew their chairs up to the table, 
and seating themselves around it, listened in eager 
expectancy. Heidi opened her letter and read it 
through without stumbling at a single word. It 
was from Klara Sesemann, who wrote to tell Heidi 
that since she had gone the house was so dull that 
she could not endure it; so she had persuaded her 
father to take the trip to Ragaz during the coming 
autumn; and her grandmamma was coming with 
her, for she, too, wanted to visit Heidi and her 
grandfather in their mountain home. 

The good news created such surprise and rejoic- 
ing, and there was so much to ask and to talk about, 
since all were equally concerned in it, that even the 
grandfather did not notice how late it was getting. 
And so happy and gay were they in the prospect 
of the days soon to come, and, perhaps, even more 
so in the present glad reunion, that at last the 
grandmother said:— 


254 


HEIDI 


“But the best of all is when a good old friend 
like you comes to greet us again as of old; that 
warms the heart and gives us the comforting 
thought that some day all those who have loved 
each other here will be together again. You will 
soon come again, will you not, Uncle? And the 
child, to-morrow?” 

The promise the grandmother asked was gladly 
given, and then the grandfather said it was time 
for Heidi and him to go. Together they took their 
way up to the Aim, and, as in the morning the joy- 
ous bells had called them down, so now the sound 
of the sweet evening bells from the valley below 
accompanied them on their upward way, growing 
fainter and fainter as they approached the sunny 
spot where stood their little home in the peaceful 
light of a Sunday evening. 

But in the autumn, when the grandmamma 
comes, there will be many a pleasant surprise in 
store for Heidi as well as for the grandmother, and 
then, no doubt, a real bed will find its way into 
Heidi’s loft, for wherever the grandmamma ap- 
pears there everything is soon in good order, with- 
out as well as within. 


CHAPTER XV 

PREPARATIONS FOR A JOURNEY 

T he good doctor by whose advice the child 
Heidi had been sent back to her home was 
just going up the broad street that led to 
the Sesemann house. It was a sunny September 
morning, so bright and lovely that it seemed as 
though it must bring joy to everyone. But the 
Herr Doctor’s eyes were bent so intently upon the 
white paving stones at his feet that he did not see 
how blue the sky was above him. There was a 
sadness in his face that was new to it, and his hair 
had grown much whiter since the spring. He had 
had an only daughter, a blooming girl who had 
been his greatest joy and closest friend ever since 
her mother’s death, and now, only a few months 
ago, death had robbed him of her also. Since then 
he had never been his old merry self again. 

His ring at the door was answered by Sebastian 
who threw open the front door with such a show of 
paliteness and of being the Herr Doctor’s most 
obedient servant that it was plain to be seen that 
the visitor was not only the nearest friend of the 
master of the house and his little daughter, but that 
by his kindly manner he had endeared himself to 
every one in the house. 


2dd 


256 


HEIDI 


“Everything as usual, Sebastian?” asked the 
doctor in his ever kindly voice as he went up stairs 
followed by the obsequious servant who was still 
bowing and scraping, although this was lost on the 
doctor whose back was turned toward Sebastian as 
he preceded him up the stairs. 

“I am glad that you have come. Doctor,” was 
Herr Sesemann’s greeting as soon as he saw him. 
“We must have another talk about that trip to 
Switzerland. I want to know whether you are still 
of the same opinion, now that Klara seems so much 
better.” 

“My dear Sesemann, what am I to think of 
you?” replied the doctor as he seated himself beside 
his friend. “I really wish your mother were here; 
she would understand at once and everything 
would be settled. But you are always beginning 
over again. This is the third time you have sent 
for me to-day, only to tell you the same thing I 
have said before.” 

“Yes, you are quite right; it is enough to try 
your patience. But you see, my dear friend,” and 
here Herr Sesemann laid his hand appealingly on 
the doctor’s arm, “it is so hard for me to deny the 
child what I promised her so faithfully, and what 
she has been looking forward to both by day and 
night for months past. This last illness the child 
has home so patiently, too, cheered by the thought 


PREPARATIONS FOR A JOURNEY 257 


that the trip to Switzerland was soon to be taken, 
when she would visit her little friend Heidi up in 
the Alps. And now I am to tell the good child, 
to whom so much is denied, that this long-cherished 
wish is also to remain unfulfilled. I cannot bear 
to do it.” 

“Sesemann, there is no other way,” said the doc- 
tor in a tone of decision; and as his friend still sat 
before him in dejected silence, he continued: 
“Just think of the circumstances. The past sum- 
mer has been the worst that Klara has had for 
years; the most serious consequences are to be 
feared from so long a journey. Moreover, it is 
now September, a season which may be very de- 
lightful up in the mountains, but which may also 
be very cool. In addition, the days have grown 
short, and as Klara can certainly not remain over 
night with her friend, she would have only a few 
hours at a time up there. From Ragaz up to the 
Aim must be a trip of several hours, and she must 
be carried all the way in a chair. In fact, Sese- 
mann, it is out of the question. But I will go with 
you to Klara and tell her my plan, and, since she 
is a sensible girl, she will make the best of what 
cannot be helped. Next May she can go to Ragaz 
and take the baths, remaining there until it has 
grown pleasant and warm higher up in the moun- 
tains. Then she can be carried up to see her friend 


258 


HEIDI 


every few days, and, refreshed and strengthened 
by her stay at Ragaz, she will enjoy these moun- 
tain trips much more than she could now. You 
understand, Sesemann, that if we are to have any 
hope of your little daughter’s recovery we must 
proceed most wisely and carefully.” 

Herr Sesemann, who had so far listened in silent 
resignation, now showed signs of great agitation as 
he exclaimed: — 

“Tell me the truth. Doctor! Have you really 
any hope that Klara’s condition will improve?” 

With a shrug of the shoulders the doctor said 
sadly : — 

“Very little. But come, my friend, think of me 
for a moment. You still have your dear child who 
longs for you when you are absent, and welcomes 
you on your return. You do not come back to a 
desolate house and sit down to a lonely meal. You 
are able to give your child a beautiful home; al- 
though it is true that she is denied much that others 
enjoy, she has, on the other hand, many advantages 
that others lack. No, my friend, you two are not 
so greatly to be pitied after all, for you have the joy 
of being together. Think of my lonely home!” 

Herr Sesemann had risen and was walking up 
and down the room with long strides, as was his 
habit when greatly disturbed. Finally he came to 
a halt before his friend, and laying his hand on the 
other’s shoulder, said:--= 


PREPARATIONS FOR A JOURNEY 259 


“Doctor, I have an idea. It grieves me to see 
you so unlike your old self; you ought to have a 
change, and I will tell you how to get it ; you must 
take the trip to the Alps and go see the child Heidi 
in our stead.” 

The doctor was quite startled at this proposal, 
and would not listen to it at first; but Herr Sese- 
mann gave him no opportunity to refuse. He 
himself was so pleased and filled with this new plan 
that, taking his friend by the arm, he hurried him 
into his daughter’s room. The good doctor was 
always a most welcome visitor at the sick girl’s 
bedside, for he had been so kind to her ever since 
she could remember, and had always had some 
merry jest of cheerful story to tell her. She knew 
very well why he was so sad and quiet now, and 
would gladly have done something to make him 
happier. 

As soon as she saw him she held out her hand to 
him, and he sat down beside her. Herr Sesemann 
also drew up a chair, and taking Klara’s hand in 
his began to talk about the trip to the Alps, and 
how he himself had looked forward to it with so 
much pleasure. But the principal point, that it 
must be abandoned for the present, he passed 
quickly over, for he dreaded the tears that would 
follow. Then he passed on to the new plan, 
directing Klara’s attention to the benefit that their 


260 


HEIDI 


friend would derive from the trip if he would take 
it in their stead. 

The tears that he had dreaded did not fail to 
come, but filled Klara’s blue eyes in spite of her 
brave efforts to keep them back, for she knew how 
it grieved her papa to see her cry. But it was very 
hard that all her plans were to end so, for the 
thought of her visit to Heidi had been her one joy 
and comfort all through the long lonely hours of 
the dreary summer she had just passed. But 
Klara never teased, for she knew very well that her 
father refused her only that which would be bad for 
her and so must not be. She choked down her 
tears and turned to the only hope that now re- 
mained. Taking her kind friend’s hand in hers, 
she stroked it softly and said pleadingly : — 

‘‘Oh, please, Herr Doctor! Do go to see Heidi; 
and then, when you come back, you can tell me how 
it looks up there, and what Heidi does, and her 
grandfather, and Peter and the goats. I know 
them all so well ! And you can take with you what 
I want to send to Heidi — I have thought it all out 
' — and something for the grandmother, too. 
Please, go, Herr Doctor! If you do, I will take 
all the cod-liver oil you order while you are away.” 

Whether the doctor was influenced by this bribe 
will never be known, but it is to be supposed that 
he was, for with a smile he now said: — 


PREPARATIONS FOR A JOURNEY 261 


“Then I will surely have to go, my little Klara, 
for that will make you round and fat as we want 
you to be, your papa and I. And when am I to 
start? Have you decided that yet?’’ 

“Early to-morrow morning will be the best time, 
Herr Doctor,” was Klara’s reply. 

“Yes, the child is right,” her father here broke 
in; “the sun is bright and the sky is blue; there is 
no time to be lost, for it is a pity that you are not 
enjoying every day like this up in the Alps.” 

The doctor had to laugh. 

“The next thing will be that I shall be scolded 
for still sitting here with you, Sesemann,” said he 
rising; “so it seems best to take myself off.” 

But Klara laid a detaining hand on his arm; 
there were a number of messages she wished him to 
give Heidi, and several things that he must notice 
carefully so that he would be able to tell her about 
them on his return. The gifts for Heidi would be 
sent to him later in the day, she said, for the things 
must all be packed together, and FrMein Rotten- 
meier had gone on one of her shopping excursions 
from which she was not likely to return very soon. 

The doctor assured Klara that all her orders 
would be faithfully executed and, although he 
could not start early in the morning, he would, if 
possible, do so before the close of another day. He 
promised that on his return he would give his little 


262 


HEIDI 


friend an accurate account of all he had seen and 
heard. 

There are servants who have a wonderful faculty 
of learning what is going on in a house long before 
its master or mistress sees fit to tell them. Sebas- 
tian and Tinette must have possessed this gift in 
a high degree, for hardly had the doctor opened the 
door when Sebastian stood ready to attend him 
down stairs, and Tinette entered the room of her 
little mistress the very moment that the bell was 
rung for her. 

“Take this box and have it filled with very fresh 
soft cakes, such as we eat with our coffee, Tinette,” 
said Klara, pointing to a box that had long stood 
waiting for this occasion. Tinette took hold of it 
by one corner, and dangling it disdainfully at her 
side, left the room. On the threshold she said 
pertly : — 

“It’s well worth the trouble.” 

Down stairs, Sebastian was holding the door 
open for the doctor with his usual politeness and, 
after an extra bow, said: — • 

“Would the Herr Doctor he so kind as to give 
Sebastian’s regards to the little Mamsell?” 

“Well, Sebastian,” exclaimed the doctor in his 
pleasant way, “how did you find out that I am 
going on a journey?” 

Sebastian gave an embarrassed cough and then 
began ; — 


PREPARATIONS FOR A JOURNEY 263 


‘T was — I had — I hardly know myself — oh, yes, 
as I was just now passing through the dining-room 
I heard the little Mamsell’s name mentioned and, 
as is often the case, one thought suggested another 
— and in this way”* — 

“Oh, I see, I see,” said the doctor with a smile; 
“and the more thoughts one has, the more he finds 
out, eh? Well, good-bye, Sebastian, until we meet 
again. I will deliver your message.” 

So saying the doctor turned to hurry out of the 
door but suddenly ran against an unexpected 
obstacle. The strong wind had prevented the 
housekeeper from continuing her wanderings 
through the shops, and, having returned, she was 
just entering the front loor. The wind had 
caught the wide cape she wore and had pulfed it 
out so that she came along like a ship with all sails 
set. The doctor beat a hasty retreat. But to him 
this lady was always wonderfully obliging and 
amiable. She also drew back with extreme cour- 
tesy, and for a moment the two stood on either side 
of the door, each politely making way for the other, 
when suddenly a powerful gust of wind blew the 
housekeeper straight toward the doctor. He 
stepped aside just in time, for that instant the lady 
was blown past him and so far beyond that she had 
to turn back in order to give a suitable greeting to 
this old friend of the family. The violence of the 


264 


HEIDI 


wind had somewhat ruffled FrMein Rottenmeier’s 
temper, but the doctor had a way that was as oil on 
the troubled waters of her spirit. He at once con- 
fided to her his intention of taking a journey, and 
then asked her in the most winning manner to pack 
the things that he was to take to Heidi, saying that 
no one could pack them as could she. Then he 
bade her good-bye. 

Klara was looking forward to a series of con- 
flicts with the housekeeper before the latter would 
consent to pack all the things she intended to send 
Heidi; but to her surprise the lady was amiability 
itself. She immediately cleared the long table, 
and then arranged upon it all the things Klara had 
gathered together, so that the little invalid could 
look on while they were being packed. This was 
no small task, for the articles that were to be sent 
were of the most varied nature and shape. First, 
there was a short heavy cape with a hood, which 
Klara intended for Heidi, so that during the com- 
ing winter the child could visit the grandmother 
whenever she wished, and not have to depend on 
her grandfather to take her down wrapped up in 
the heavy sack to keep her from freezing. Next 
there was a thick warm shawl for the old grand- 
mother to wrap round herself so that she need 
no longer shiver when the bitter winter winds 


PREPARATIONS FOR A JOURNEY 265 


searched the cottage. Then there was the box 
with the cakes; that was for the grandmother, 
too, so that she might have something besides rolls 
with her coffee. Then came a huge sausage which 
Klara had originally intended for Peter as a 
change from his constant diet of bread and cheese. 
But she had decided differently for fear that Peter, 
in his delight, would eat up the whole sausage at 
once. It was therefore to be sent to mother 
Brigitte, that she might first cut a generous slice 
for herself and another for the grandmother and 
then give Peter his share from time to time as 
seemed best to her. There was a bag of tobacco; 
this was for the grandfather who, as Klara was 
well aware, liked to smoke his pipe as he sat on the 
bench of the hut. Last of all came a number of 
mysterious little hags, bundles and boxes which 
Klara had got ready with special delight, for each 
one contained a surprise for Heidi, something 
which Klara knew would please the child. 

At last Fraulein Rottenmeier’s work was 
finished, and an imposing looking package, all 
ready for the journey, lay in one corner of the 
room where the housekeeper stood looking down 
at it, lost in contemplation of the great art of 
packing. Klara, for her part, cast glances of joy- 
ful anticipation at it as she pictured to herself 


266 


HEIDI 


Heidi’s surprise and delight, and almost heard the 
child’s shout of joy when the big bundle should 
appear. Sebastian now came in and, swinging the 
heavy package to his shoulder, hurried away with 
it to the doctor’s house. 


CHAPTER XVI 


A GUEST ON THE ALM 

T he soft flush of early morning lay on the 
mountain tops, and a fresh wind was sweep- 
ing through the pine trees, swaying their old 
branches to and fro. Heidi opened her eyes, for 
the sound had waked her. This song of the pine 
trees had a deep fascination for Heidi and called 
her with a power she could not resist. She 
jumped from her bed and found it hard to take 
the time to dress herself properly; but Heidi knew 
very well that it must be done, and that she must 
be tidy and clean. 

Then she climbed down the ladder; her grand- 
father’s bed was empty, and she ran to the door 
where she saw the old man standing in front of 
the hut looking up at the sky and in every direction, 
as he did each morning to see what the weather 
would be. 

Rosy clouds were drifting across the sky which 
was growing bluer and bluer, and the heights and 
pasture lands were tinged with gold, for the sun 
was just rising from behind the lofty peaks. 

“Oh, how beautiful! How beautiful! Good- 
morning, grandfather!” cried Heidi running out 
to join him. 


268 


HEIDI 


“So your bright eyes are open, too?” was her 
grandfather’s greeting as he held out his hand to 
her. 

Heidi ran under the pine trees, dancing up and 
down with pleasure at the rush and roar among 
the tossing branches overhead, and at every fresh 
gust of wind and deeper bowing of the tall tree- 
tops she gave a shout of delight and leaped a little 
higher. 

Meanwhile her grandfather had gone into the 
stable to milk Swanli and Bearli, after which he 
brushed and washed them well; then he brought 
them out, ready for their trip to the pasture. As 
soon as Heidi saw the pretty creatures she ran 
to them, and throwing her arms around their glossy 
necks gave them a loving greeting. The goats 
bleated with joy and affection, and each tried to 
get its head a little closer to Heidi’s shoulder, al- 
most crushing her between them as they vied with 
each other to show their love for her. But Heidi 
was not afraid of them, and when the energetic 
little Bearli pushed and pressed somewhat too 
roughly, she said: — 

“No, no, Bearli! You butt just like the big 
Turk himself!” 

Instantly Bearli drew back and stood aside very 
properly, while Swanli, too, raised her head and 
assumed an elegant attitude, showing plainly that 


A GUEST ON THE ALM 


269 


the little creature was thinking: “No one shall ever 
have reason to say that I behave like the big Turk.” 
For Swanli, with her coat of spotless white, re- 
garded herself as a little superior to brown Bearli. 

Now Peter’s shrill whistle was heard, and a few 
moments later they came bounding up the moun- 
tain side, all the merry goats with the active little 
Goldfinch in the lead, showing his gay spirits in 
many a leap and caper. In an instant Heidi was 
in the midst of the merry rout, being pushed 
hither and thither in the ardor of the greetings that 
were given her. But she, too, did some pushing 
on her part, for she wished to get to where timid 
little Snowhopli was struggling toward her, but 
was always being pushed back by some stronger 
goat. 

When Peter appeared he gave a last tremendous 
whistle, by which he intended to frighten the goats 
off and send them on their way to the pasture, for 
he himself wanted a place beside Heidi. At the 
threatening sound the flock scattered, and Peter 
stepped up to Heidi. 

“To-day you ought to go with us again,” he 
said rather crossly. 

“No, Peter, I can’t,” replied Heidi. “They may 
be here at any moment now, and I must be at home 
to greet them.” 

“You have made that excuse before,” muttered 
Peter. 


270 


HEIDI 


“But it is a good one, and will be until they 
come,” retorted Heidi, “Or do you perhaps think 
that I need not be at home when they come all the 
way from Frankfort to see me? Is that what you 
think, Peter?” 

“The Alm-Uncle will be here to meet them,” 
growled Peter. 

At this point they were interrupted by the loud 
voice of the old man calling from within the hut: — 

“Why doesn’t the army move forward? Is the 
fault with the field-marshal or with the troops?” 

Instantly Peter turned about face, cracked his 
whip, and away went the goats, for they knew the 
sound well; Peter was close at their heels and the 
whole troop disappeared up the mountain side on 
a quick trot. 

Since Heidi’s return to her grandfather’s home 
she thought of many things that had never before 
occurred to her. For instance, she made her bed 
every morning now, pulling and stroking it until 
it looked quite smooth. Then she ran hither and 
thither in the hut, setting every chair in its own 
place, and gathering up anything that lay or hung 
about, and putting it carefully away in the closet. 
When this was done, she got a cloth, and, climbing 
on a chair, wiped and polished the table until it 
shone. When afterward her grandfather came in- 
doors he would give an approving glance all round. 


A GUEST ON THE ALM 


271 


and perhaps say: “It always looks like Sunday in 
the house now,” or, “It was not for nothing that 
Heidi went to Frankfort.” 

To-day, too, after Peter and his goats had 
trotted off together, and she and her grandfather 
had eaten their breakfast, Heidi turned at once to 
her household duties; but she found it hard to go 
on with them. It was so lovely out of doors this 
morning, and every few moments something called 
the child away from her work. Just now a sun- 
beam came dancing so merrily in at the window 
that it seemed plainly to say: “Come out, Heidi! 
Come out!” She could not resist it, and out she 
ran. The gleaming sunlight lay upon the hut and 
all about it ; it brightened the distant mountain tops 
and fell far, far down into the valley; yonder, 
where the path descended, the ground looked so 
dry and golden in the sunshine that it was in itself 
an invitation to Heidi to come and sit on it awhile 
and look about her. But she had hardly seated 
herself when she remembered that the three-legged 
stool was still standing in the middle of the room 
and that the table had not been cleared of the break- 
fast dishes. She jumped up and ran back into 
the house. But it was not long before she heard 
such a tumult in the old pine trees that she must 
needs go out and join them in their frolic, and 
dance up and down in time with the swaying of the 
great branches above her head. 


272 


HEIDI 


Her grandfather was in the shop working at sev- 
eral small jobs; from time to time he stepped to 
the door and with a smiling face watched Heidi’s 
capers. He had just returned to his work once 
more when he heard the child cry out: 

“Grandfather, grandfather! Come, come!” 

He stepped out quickly, almost fearing that 
some ill had befallen her; he saw her running to 
where the path descended abruptly, while she called 
excitedly : — 

“They are coming, they are coming! And the 
Herr Doctor is the first of all!” 

Heidi rushed to meet her old friend who ap- 
proached with his hand held out to greet her. 
When the child reached him she clasped his out- 
stretched arm with both her own, crying joy- 
fully;— 

“How do you do, Herr Doctor? And thank 
you again a thousand, thousand times.” 

“God bless you, little Heidi! And what is it 
you are thanking me for so soon?” asked the doctor 
with a pleasant smile. 

“Because I am at home again with grandfather,” 
explained the child. 

The doctor’s sad face brightened as with a ray of 
sunshine; this was a greeting he had not expected. 
With only his sad thoughts for companions the 
lonely man had climbed the mountains without 


A GUEST ON THE ALM 


273 


noticing how beautiful it was about him, nor that 
it grew more so with every step upward. He had 
supposed that Heidi would hardly recognize him, 
she had seen so little of him; moreover, coming as 
he did without the friends she expected, he re- 
garded himself as one who brings a disappointment 
to those to whom he goes, and whom they will 
therefore scarcely care to see. Instead of this, 
Heidi’s eyes beamed with pleasure, and, full of 
gratitude and love, she was clinging to the arm of 
her kind old friend. 

With fatherly tenderness the doctor took the 
child by the hand. ‘'Come, Heidi,” said he cheerily, 
“take me to your grandfather and show me your 
home.” 

But Heidi remained standing where she was, and 
looked down the mountain path with an expression 
of mingled expectation and surprise. 

“Where are Klara and her grandmamma?” she 
asked at length. 

“Now I shall have to tell you something that 
grieves me as much as it does you, Heidi,” replied 
the doctor. “I have come alone. Klara is ill, too 
ill to travel, and so the grandmamma did not come 
either. But in the spring, when the days have 
grown long and warm again, they will surely 
come.” 

Heidi stood in silent consternation; it was hard 


274 


HEIDI 


to believe that all she had looked forward to so 
long was after all not to be. For some moments 
she remained motionless as though dazed by the 
unexpected news. Without a word the doctor 
stood beside her, the silence about them broken only 
by the sighing of the wind in the pine trees high 
overhead. Suddenly Heidi remembered why she 
had run down there, and that the doctor had come. 
She looked up at him, and saw something very sad 
in the eyes that met her own, something she had 
never seen there before; in Frankfort the doctor 
had never looked at her so. It went to Heidi’s 
heart; she could not bear to see any one suffer, 
much less the good doctor. It must be, she 
thought, because Klara and the grandmamma had 
not come with him. Eagerly she sought for some 
way in which to comfort him, and quickly found 
it. 

“Oh, the spring will soon be here, and then they 
will surely come,” she said consolingly; “the time 
never seems long here. And then, when they come, 
they can stay much longer, and Klara will be glad 
of that. Now let us go up to grandfather.” 

Hand in hand the two went to the hut together. 
The child was so anxious to see her good friend 
look happy again that she began afresh to assure 
him that up here on the Aim it would not seem 
long at all before the long warm days of summer 


A GUEST ON THE ALM 


275 


would be back again; indeed, they would come be- 
fore the doctor was aware of it. She was so per- 
suasive that she became quite consoled herself, and 
when she saw her grandfather she called out 
cheerily: — 

“The others have not come yet, but it will not be 
long before they will be here, too!” 

To her grandfather the doctor was by no means 
a stranger, for the child had talked so much about 
him. The old man met his guest with outstretched 
hand and gave him a hearty welcome. Then the 
two men sat down together on the bench in front 
of the hut, leaving a little place for Heidi to which 
the doctor kindly beckoned the child. Then he be- 
gan to relate how Herr Sesemann had persuaded 
him to take the journey, and how he had himself 
thought that it would be good for him, since he had 
lately not felt quite as active and strong as usual. 
Then he whispered in Heidi’s ear that something 
would be coming up the mountain presently, some- 
thing that had come all the way from Frankfort 
with him, and that she would enjoy much more 
than a visit from the old doctor. This made Heidi 
very curious to know what it might be. 

The Alm-Uncle now advised the doctor to spend 
all of the few remaining lovely days of autumn up 
on the Aim, or at least to come up on every fine day, 
for the Uncle would not invite him to remain with 


276 


HEIDI 


them altogether, as the hut had no accommodations 
to offer a guest like the doctor. He suggested 
further that instead of returning to Ragaz the doc- 
tor should take a room down in Dorfli, where plain 
but comfortable lodgings could be procured. 
From there the doctor could easily come up to the 
Aim on every fine morning and then spend the 
day with them, which would surely do him much 
good, the Uncle thought. He also offered to take 
his guest to a number of interesting places higher 
up in the mountain, which the doctor would be glad 
to see. 

This plan seemed very pleasing to the doctor, 
and he decided at once to carry it out. 

Meanwhile the sun had climbed to the zenith, 
the wind had long ago ceased and left the pine 
trees motionless and silent. For this high altitude 
the air was still soft and mild, and as they sat in 
the warm sunshine a refreshing breeze fanned their 
cheeks. The Aim-Uncle rose, and going into the 
hut soon returned with a table which he set in front 
of the bench. 

“Now, Heidi, run in and get what we need for 
the table,” said he. “Our guest must content him- 
self with what we can offer and, although our fare 
is plain, our dining-room is grand.” 

“I quite agree with you,” said the doctor as his 
eyes rested on the sunlit valley far below him. 


A GUEST ON THE ALM 277 


“And as for the invitation, I accept it most gladly; 
in this air a dinner must taste very good/’ 

Heidi ran back and forth, as busy as a bee, fetch- 
ing out everything that she could find in the closet, 
for to wait on the doctor was a great pleasure for 
her. Meanwhile her grandfather was preparing 
the meal and soon appeared with the steaming jug 
of milk in one hand and in the other the golden 
cheese toasted to a tempting brown. Then he cut 
fine, transparent slices of the rosy meat that he 
himself dried up here in the pure mountain air. 
The doctor enjoyed his dinner more than any he 
had tasted in a whole year. 

“Yes, yes,” said he, “this is the place for our 
Klara. Here she will gain new strength, and if 
she can eat for a while as I have eaten to-day she 
will grow round and plump as never before in all 
her life.” 

At this moment some one was seen coming up 
the mountain with a heavy load on his back. When 
the man arrived in front of the hut he threw his 
burden on the ground and took a few long breaths 
of the fresh mountain air. 

“Ah, here is what came with me from Frank- 
fort,” said the doctor as he rose and drew Heidi 
with him to where the bundle lay. He began at 
once to undo it, and when he had taken off the 
many outside wrappings, he said: — 


278 


HEIDI 


“There, child; now you can undo the rest and 
take out all your precious treasures yourself.” 

Heidi did as she was told, and when all the 
things lay spread out before her she stood and 
gazed at them with eyes of wonder. Not until the 
doctor lifted the cover from the big box saying; 
“See what the grandmother is going to have with 
her coffee!” did the child find her voice. Then 
she danced about the box and clapped her hands 
with joy as she cried gleefully: — 

“Oh, oh! Now the grandmother will have some 
lovely cakes to eat!” 

She wanted to pack everything together and 
hurry away to the grandmother at once, but her 
grandfather suggested that she should wait until 
evening, when, together, they would accompany 
the doctor down the mountain and take the things 
to the grandmother. 

So Heidi returned to her gifts and soon discov- 
ered the pretty bag full of tobacco which she 
quickly brought to her grandfather. He was 
much pleased with it and filled his pipe at once. 
The two men then continued their conversation, 
sitting on the bench together and blowing great 
clouds of smoke into the air, while Heidi played 
about, picking up one of her treasures after an- 
other, not knowing which she liked the best. After 
a while she left them all and placing herself before 









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A GUEST ON THE ALM 


27q 


the doctor waited for a pause in the conversation, 
when she said with great decision : — 

“No, there is nothing there that I enjoy more 
than the visit from the old doctor.” 

The two men laughed heartily, and the doctor 
declared that this was certainly more than he had 
expected. 

When the sun approached the tops of the west- 
ern mountains the visitor arose, for it was high 
time to return to Dorfli and secure the necessary 
lodgings. He tood Heidi by the hand while her 
grandfather gathered together the box of cakes, 
the big sausage and the shawl, and put them under 
his arm; then the three went down the mountain 
together as far as the goatherd’s hut. Here Heidi 
bade the doctor good-bye, for she was to remain 
with the grandmother until her grandfather came 
back from Dorfli, whither he was going to accom- 
pany his guest. 

As Heidi shook hands with the doctor, she said 
questioningly 

“Perhaps you would like to go up to the goat 
pasture with us to-morrow?” 

To Heidi’s mind this was the greatest treat she 
had to offer. 

“ ’Tis a bargain, Heidi,” said the doctor; “we will 
go together.” 

The men went on, and Heidi opened the door 


280 


HEIDI 


into the little house. With might and main she 
first dragged in the big box of cakes; then she 
turned back for the huge sausage — for her grand- 
father had set everything down just outside the 
door — and last of all, she brought in the big shawl. 
She laid all the things as close to the grandmother 
as possible, so that by touching them she might 
learn what they were. The shawl Heidi laid 
across the grandmother’s knees. 

“All from Frankfort! Klara and her grand- 
mamma sent them all!” was Heidi’s jubilant ex- 
planation to the astonished grandmother and her 
daughter; Brigitte was so dazed with surprise 
that she stood there without so much as raising a 
finger to help the child who tugged away at all the 
heavy things and spread them out before her won- 
dering eyes. 

“And oh, grandmother, aren’t you very, very 
glad to have the cakes? See how soft they are! 
Just see!” cried the happy child again and 
again. 

“Yes, yes, Heidi, indeed I am; what good people 
they must be who sent them!” was the grand- 
mother’s reply; then as she passed her hand caress- 
ingly over the soft warm shawl she added: “What 
an excellent thing for the cold winter days! It 
is too fine for me, finer than anything I ever ex- 
pected to have.” 


A GUEST ON THE ALM 


281 


Heidi wondered that the grandmother should be 
more delighted with the dull gray shawl than with 
the beautiful cakes. Brigitte was still standing 
before the huge sausage upon which she looked 
with a feeling almost of reverence. Never before 
in all her life had she seen such a giant sausage. 
And to think that it was her own, and that pres- 
ently she would cut it ! It seemed almost too good 
to be true. She shook her head in doubt, and said 
that she would have to ask the Alm-Uncle what it 
all meant. But Heidi was in no doubt about it, 
and told her that it was meant to be eaten. 

Just then Peter came stumbling in. 

“The Alm-Uncle is just behind me; he wants 
Heidi”^ — there the boy stopped, for his eye fell on 
the table where lay the monster sausage, and he 
was so overcome by the sight of it that speech failed 
him. But Heidi guessed what he was going to 
say, and quickly bade the grandmother good-bye. 

The Alm-Uncle’s step had come to be a most 
welcome sound to the blind woman, for he never 
passed the house now without going in, if only to 
wish the grandmother a good-day and say a cherry 
word or two. But to-day it was very late for 
Heidi, who was always up with the sun. “The 
child must have her sleep,” thought the grandfa- 
ther, and remained firm. So he stopped only long 
enough to call a good-night to the grandmother 


282 


HEIDI 


through the open door, while Heidi came running 
out to him. Then he took the child by the hand, 
and the two climbed upward together to where 
their peaceful home stood under the shining stars. 


CHAPTER XVII 


A RECOMPENSE 

E arly the next morning the doctor joined 
Peter and his goats in Dorfli to climb the 
mountain in their company. The friendly 
old gentleman made several attempts to begin a 
conversation with the goatherd, but received only 
low-muttered monosyllables in reply from the boy. 
It was no easy matter to engage Peter in conversa- 
tion. And so it was a silent company that arrived 
in front of the Alm-Uncle’s hut where Heidi stood 
waiting with both her goats, all three as bright and 
merry as the early sunbeams on the heights above 
them. 

“Coming with us?” asked Peter, for, whether 
as question or as invitation, he said the same words 
every morning. 

“To be sure I am, if the Herr Doctor will come 
too,” was Heidi’s reply. 

Peter cast a sidelong glance at the strange 
gentleman. 

Just then the grandfather came out of the hut 
with the dinner bag in his hand and, after a very 
respectful greeting to the doctor, stepped up to 
Peter and hung the bag over his shoulder. 

^83 


284 


HEIDI 


It was heavier than usual, for the Alm-Uncle 
had put in a fine slice of the rosy meat so that the 
gentleman might have his dinner with the children 
should he wish to remain up on the pasture with 
them. Peter’s mouth widened until it reached al- 
most from ear to ear with a smile of delight, for he 
surmised that there was something unusual stowed 
away in the bag. 

The little company now started on its way up 
the mountain. Heidi was entirely surrounded by 
the goats, one after the other being pushed aside 
by those behind as they crowded to get next to 
her; and so she was carried along in the midst of 
the merry throng until, with an eff ort, she stood still 
and holding up her finger said 

“Now you must all be good and run on, and 
don’t come back to push and crowd again, for now 
I must walk with the Herr Doctor for a while.” 

Then she patted Snowhopli, who always kept 
close beside her, and told the little goat to be 
especially good and obedient. Then the child 
made her way out of the fiock, and walked beside 
the doctor who immediately took her hand and kept 
it in his own for the rest of the way. He had no 
need to seek for something to talk about now, for 
Heidi began at once to tell him about the goats and 
their curious ways, about the fiowers, the gray cliff s 
and the birds, making the time pass so quickly that 


A RECOMPENSE 


285 


the pasture was reached before they knew it. 

All the way up the mountain, Peter had cast 
sidelong glances at the doctor, that might have 
struck terror to his heart had he seen them, which, 
fortunately, he didn’t. 

When they had come to the end of their journey, 
Heidi at once conducted her good friend to her 
favorite spot where she always went to sit and 
gaze about her, for she thought it the most beauti- 
ful place of all. To-day she did as usual, and 
the doctor sat down beside her on the sunny 
slope. 

The golden sunshine of a perfect autumn day lay 
on the rocky heights above them and flooded the 
green valley below. Everywhere from the lower 
pasture lands the tinkle of herd bells was wafted 
upward, sounding as calm and sweet as though they 
were ringing in peace to all mankind. The great 
snow-field opposite glistened and sparkled with the 
dancing sunbeams upon it, and the gray peaks of 
Falkniss lifted their rock-crowned heads in ancient 
majesty far into the dark blue vault above them. 
The morning breeze swept softly over the grass, 
gently swaying the few bluebells that still remained 
of the summer’s vast throng, and now nodded con- 
tentedly in the sun’s warm rays. Far overhead 
the great eagle was sweeping about in wide circles ; 
to-day, however, he was not screaming, but with 


286 


HEIDI 


outstretched pinions was quietly sailing through the 
blue sky enjoying the sunshine. 

Heidi looked hither and thither — at the blithely 
nodding flowers, the blue sky, the merry sunshine, 
the contented bird in the air above them, and 
thought it all so lovely, so lovely. The child’s 
eyes were bright with happiness; she looked at her 
friend to see whether he, too, was enjoying the 
beauty about him. So far the doctor had gazed 
around in silence, wrapt in thought; now, as he 
met the child’s eyes that beamed at him with pleas- 
ure, he said: — 

“Yes, Heidi, it is very beautiful up here; but 
what do you think? If a man brings a heavy heart 
with him, what must he do so that he may enjoy all 
the beauty around him?” 

“Oh, oh!” cried Heidi cheerily; “there are no 
heavy hearts up here; they are all in Frankfort.” 

A smile came to the doctor’s face, but soon left it 
again. 

“But suppose, Heidi,” said he, “that some one 
brings all the sadness of Frankfort with him up 
here; is there anything that can help him then?” 

“When we are in trouble and do not know what 
to do, we must tell it all to the dear God,” said 
Heidi with perfect confldence. 

“Yes, that is a good way, child,” said the doctor; 


A RECOMPENSE 


287 


“but if that which makes us so unhappy is sent by 
God himself, what is there to tell Him then?” 

Heidi had to think hard over this new question, 
although she felt very sure that there was no sorrow 
for which the dear God knew no help. She sought 
for the answer in her own experience. 

“Then we must wait,” said she after a pause, “and 
think all the time: ‘No doubt the dear God knows 
something good that will come of this, and I must 
wait and not turn away from Him.’ Then, after 
awhile, we shall see that the dear God had some- 
thing good in mind for us all the while; but be- 
cause we could not see it at once, but only saw what 
made us so dreadfully sad, we thought it would al- 
ways be so.” 

“That is a beautiful belief, my child,” said the 
doctor; “hold to it always.” For a few moments 
he sat in silence, his eyes resting on the mighty 
cliffs before him, and then on the green and sunny 
valley below; then he began again: — 

“Look you, Heidi, there might be some one sit- 
ting here on whose eyes lay a great darkness, 
making it impossible for him to see all the beauty 
about him. Such an one might be doubly sad here 
knowing that all this beauty was not for him. Can 
you understand that?” 

Heidi’s glad heart felt a sudden pain, for the doc- 


288 


HEIDI 


tor’s words about a great darkness on the eyes 
brought to her mind the poor grandmother who 
could never again see the bright sunshine, nor all 
the glad beauty of the world up here. This was 
a grief that always wrung Heidi’s heart afresh 
whenever she thought of it. She did not speak for 
some time, for the pain had come so suddenly into 
her happiness. At length she said very ear- 
nestly:-^ 

“Yes, I can understand it. But I know of help 
even for that; we must say the grandmother’s 
hymns; they will bring a little light, perhaps so 
much that we will grow quite happy again. The 
grandmother told me so.” 

“What are the hymns, Heidi?” asked the doctor. 

“I only know the one about the sun and the 
beautiful garden, and of the other long one a few 
verses that the grandmother likes the best, for 
when I come to those she always wants me to read 
them again.” 

“Say those verses for me, my child; I should like 
to hear them,” said the doctor getting ready to 
give close attention. 

With her hands clasped in her lap, Heidi sat 
thinking for a while; then she said: — 

“Shall I begin with the verses that the grand- 
mother says bring a new hope to the heart?” 

The doctor nodded assent, and Heidi began 


A RECOMPENSE 


289 


Ohj trust, and let him guide thee! 

He is thy sovereign wise. 

And ever close beside thee 
(Will shape to thy surprise 
The life thou dost surrender 
Into his loving hand. 

That, ever kind and tender. 

Will lead thee to the end. 

Think not that he has left thee 
If in his all-wise reign. 

He has of joy bereft thee 
And sent thee bitter pain; 

For though in grief and anguish 
He leaves thee for a space, 

*Tis not to see thee languish. 

But to teach thee of his grace. 

Doubt not his love and power; 

Steadfast and true abide. 

And in thy darkest hour 

Thou’lt find him at thy side. 

Bearing the burden for thee. 

Breaking the chains that bound. 

Shedding the blessing o*er thee. 

That thou at last hast found. 

Heidi broke off suddenly, for she doubted that 
the doctor was still listening. He had shaded his 
eyes with one hand and did not stir. She thought 
he must have fallen asleep, and that, should he 


290 


HEIDI 


care to hear any more verses when he awoke, he 
would ask for them. 

There was a deep silence. But, though the doc- 
tor said nothing, he was not asleep. His thoughts 
had gone far back to a day in his childhood. Again 
he stood, a little boy, beside his dear mother’s chair ; 
with one arm about his shoulders, she was repeating 
the hymn of which Heidi had just said a few 
verses, and which he had not heard in many years. 
Again he heard his mother’s voice, and saw her 
kind eyes looking lovingly down into his, and after 
the last words of the hymn had died away, his 
memory brought back other words that the dear 
voice had spoken, and which he must have been glad 
to hear again and follow in thought, for it was a 
long time that he sat there, silent and motionless, 
with his hand over his eyes. When at length he 
roused himself, he found Heidi’s wondering eyes 
upon him; taking the child’s hand in his, he said: 
“Heidi, your verses are beautiful,” and his voice 
sounded cheerier than it had. “We will come here 
again some time, and then you must say them over 
again for me.” 

During all this time Peter had been busily en- 
gaged in giving vent to his wrath. For days 
Heidi had not come to the pasture at all, and now, 
that she had, there was that old gentleman sitting 
beside her all the while, so that Peter himself could 


A RECOMPENSE 


291 


not so much as get near her. It enraged him be- 
yond endurance. Taking a position just behind 
the unsuspecting gentleman, where there was no 
danger of being discovered, he doubled up one fist 
and shook it savagely; after awhile he doubled up 
both fists, and the longer Heidi sat beside the 
stranger, the higher and more threateningly did 
Peter swing his fists back and forth behind the 
gentleman who sat there so unconscious of his peril. 

Meanwhile the sun had reached the point which 
indicates the dinner hour ; Peter saw it at once, for 
he never needed to be told of it. Suddenly, with 
all his might he shouted at the two sitting before 
him : — 

‘Tt’s time to eat!’’ 

Heidi rose to fetch the bag, so that the doctor 
might eat his dinner without disturbing himself. 
But he told her that he was not hungry, and would 
only drink a glass of milk; afterward he would 
wander about the pasture a while, and then climb a 
little higher up the mountains. Upon hearing this 
Heidi discovered that she, too, was not hungry and 
wanted nothing more than a drink of milk. She 
offered to take the doctor up to the great moss- 
covered cliffs where Goldfinch had once come near 
to losing his life, and where the spicy herbs grew 
that the goats liked so much. She ran to Peter to 
explain it all to him, and to tell him that he must 


292 


HEIDI 


first get a bowl-full of milk from Swanli for the 
doctor, and then another for herself. 

The boy looked at her in great surprise, and 
then asked breathlessly:— 

“Who is to have what is in the bag?” 

“You may have it all; but first you must get 
the milk; and be quick about it,” was Heidi’s re- 

ply- 

Never before had Peter carried out an order as 
promptly as he did this one; for there lay the bag 
before him, and as yet he had no idea what there 
might be in it, although this was now all his own. 
As soon as Heidi and the doctor had their milk, 
Peter opened the bag and took a hurried glance 
at its contents. When he beheld the delicious piece 
of meat he trembled with joy, and took another 
hasty glance to assure himself that it was not all 
a delusion. Then he quickly thrust his hand into 
the bag to bring forth the coveted treasure and en- 
joy it, but instantly drew it back empty, as though 
he were afraid to take what he saw. He had sud- 
denly remembered how he had stood behind the 
stranger and had shaken his fists at him, and now 
that gentleman had given him the whole of his ex- 
cellent dinner. Peter was seized with remorse for 
his evil deed, for he had a feeling that it stood be- 
tween him and the precious gift he longed to en- 
joy. Suddenly he jumped up and ran back to the 


A RECOMPENSE 


293 


place where he had stood with clinched fists; then, 
holding up both arms with hands wide open to 
show that his evil intentions were gone, he stood so 
for some time until he felt that due atonement had 
been made. Then he leaped back to the bag and, 
with his conscience clear once more, began his un- 
usually good dinner, and enjoyed it to the utmost. 

Heidi and the doctor wandered about together 
for a long time and found much to say to each other. 
But finally the doctor said that it was time for him 
to go back, for he thought that the child would 
like to play with the goats for a while. But Heidi 
would not hear of it, for in that case the doctor 
would have to find his way alone down the moun- 
tain. She insisted on going with him as far as her 
grandfather’s hut, and even a little piece beyond. 
She went hand in hand with her good friend, and 
had still much to tell him and to show him on the 
way down — all the places where the goats liked 
best to graze, or where in summer the shining yel- 
low blossoms of the willowherb or the red centaury 
and many other flowers grew in such abundance. 
She knew them all, for during the summer her 
grandfather had taught her the names as he knew 
them. 

But at last the doctor insisted that Heidi must 
turn back, and when he had bidden her good-bye, he 
went on alone down the mountain path. Looking 


294 


HEIDI 


back from time to time, he saw Heidi still standing 
where he had left her, her bright eyes following 
him and her little hand waving a last good-bye 
to him, just as his own dear daughter had bade him 
farewell when he went from home. 

The month that the doctor spent in the moun- 
tains was so bright and sunny that every morning 
brought him to the Alm-Uncle’s door. Then there 
were pleasant jaunts in one direction or another. 
Sometimes the two men climbed far up the moun- 
tains to where the ancient, weather-beaten pine 
trees looked down on them, and where among the 
gray cliffs the eagle must have built his nest for 
here he circled and screamed close above the heads 
of the two intruders. 

The doctor was always very much interested in 
what his companion had to tell him, and often won- 
dered at the old man’s knowledge of the many 
plants that grew in this mountain region; for he 
knew them all and what good purpose they would 
serve. He could find so much that was good and 
useful up among the rocks — in the spicy resinous 
pines, in the dark spruce trees with their fragrant 
needles, in the curling moss that nestled between 
their gnarled old roots, and in all the tiny plants 
and humble blossoms which the rich mountain soil 
brought forth even at this great height. 

With the ways and habits of all the creatures. 


A RECOMPENSE 


295 


both great and small, that lived up here the Alm- 
Uncle was just as familiar, and he had many an 
amusing story to tell the doctor about these curious 
dwellers in rocky crevice, underground cave, or high 
treetop. 

The time passed so quickly when the two men 
were off on these excursions that the doctor could 
hardly realize that it had gone, and as he grasped 
the old man’s hand in their cordial parting at night, 
he often said: — 

‘T never leave you, my good friend, without hav- 
ing learned something both new and useful.” 

But there were many days, and they were gen- 
erally the most beautiful ones, that the doctor spent 
up on the pasture with Heidi. Then the two 
usually passed some hours on the beautiful sunny 
slope where they had sat on the first day of the 
doctor’s visit, and Heidi would repeat the verses 
they both loved so well, or tell her friend all the 
many things that were so interesting to her. At 
these times Peter often sat in his old place behind 
them, but he never shook his fists at the doctor now- 
a-days, but sat there very quietly and peacefully. 

All too soon the charming month of September 
came to an end, and one morning the doctor came 
to his friends without the cheery look his face had 
lately worn again, and announced that this was to 
he his last day with them, for it was time for him 


296 


HEIDI 


to be back in Frankfort. The parting grieved him 
sadly, he said, for the Aim had grown to be as dear 
to him as his own home. The Alm-Uncle heard 
the news with deep regret, for the doctor’s com- 
pany had been a great delight to him; and as for 
Heidi, she had become so used to the daily com- 
panionship of her kind friend that it seemed almost 
impossible to spend the days without him. She 
turned to him with a questioning look of surprise 
in her eyes. But it was only too true. 

After bidding her grandfather good-bye, the doc- 
tor asked Heidi to go with him for a short distance. 
Taking his hand she went down the mountain path 
with him, hut even yet could not realize that he 
was indeed leaving them. After a while the doctor 
stood still and told Heidi that she must turn back 
now, for she had come far enough. He passed his 
hand caressingly over the child’s curly hair two or 
three times and said: — 

‘‘Now I must go, Heidi. If I could only take 
you back to Frankfort and keep you with mel” 

In an instant all Frankfort rose before Heidi’s 
eyes — ^the many, many houses, and all the stone- 
paved streets, FrMein Rottenmeier also, and 
Tinette. With an anxious look she said timidly: — ^ 
“It seems to me that it would be pleasanter to 
have you come hack to us.” 

“You are right, my child. That will be much 


A RECOMPENSE 


297 


better. So farewell, my little Heidi!’’ said the 
kindly doctor, holding out his hand to the little 
girl. As the child laid her hand in his she looked 
up at her friend and saw tears in the kind eyes that 
looked down at her. Turning away hastily, the 
doctor hurried down the mountain. 

Heidi stood motionless where he had left her. 
The sight of the kind eyes filled with tears had 
raised a great conflict in her heart. Suddenly she 
burst into tears and running after her departing 
friend as fast as her feet could carry her she called 
in a voice choked with sobs : — 

“Oh, Herr Doctor, Herr Doctor!” 

The doctor turned and stood waiting for her. 
When the child reached him, she sobbed out with 
the tears still rolling down her cheeks: — 

“I will go with you, Herr Doctor, and will stay 
in Frankfort just as long as you wish; only wait 
until I run back and tell grandfather about it.” 

The doctor laid a gentle hand on the excited 
child’s head and said soothingly; — 

“No, my dear Heidi, not now. You must stay 
here among the pine trees a while longer else you 
might get sick again. But tell me, my child, if 
some day I should be ill and alone, would you come 
to me then and stay with me? Can I feel that there 
is some one who will care for me then and love me?” 
“Yes, indeed, Herr Doctor! I will come on the 


298 


HEIDI 


very day you send for me; and I love you, too; 
nearly as much as I do grandfather,” Heidi assured 
him between her sobs. 

With another loving clasp of the little one’s hand 
the doctor turned and hurried on his way. Heidi 
stood looking after him, waving her hand in fare- 
well as long as there was anything to be seen of her 
friend. 

As the doctor looked back for the last time at the 
beckoning little figure standing on the sunny moun- 
tain-side, he murmured: — 

“ ’Tis a good place yonder, good for both body 
and soul; and a heavy heart can grow light again 
up there.” 


CHAPTER XVIII 

A WINTER IN DORFLI 

A ll around the Alm-Uncle’s hut the snow lay 
so high that it looked as though the windows 
came all the way down to the ground, for be- 
low them there was nothing to be seen of the little 
house, and the front door had disappeared alto- 
gether. Had the Uncle been living there he would 
have had to do as Peter was now doing every day, 
for hardly a night passed without bringing a heavy 
snow-fall. Every morning the boy had to climb 
through the window and jump out into the snow. 
If the night had not been very cold so that every- 
thing was frozen stiff, he disappeared entirely in 
the soft snow; then, by beating, kicking and push- 
ing with his hands and feet, and even with his 
head, he worked his way out. Then his mother 
would hand him the big broom through the open 
window, and with this he would push and sweep 
the snow away from before him until he reached 
the front door where the most difficult part of his 
task awaited him. All the snow in front of the 
door had to he shovelled to one side, for, should it 
remain soft, the entire mass would fall into the 
kitchen as soon as the door was opened; or, should 


300 


HEIDI 


it freeze, the inmates of the little house would be 
prisoners, for no one could cut his way through 
these great blocks of frozen snow, and only Peter 
was small enough to slip in and out of the tiny 
window. 

But the season of ice and snow also brought 
many advantages to Peter. When he wanted to 
go to Dorfli he had only to open the window and 
crawl out to find himself on the solid crust of snow. 
Then his mother would hand out his sled to him, and 
when he was seated on it, he had but to give it a 
push, to go speeding away in any direction he chose, 
for the whole mountain side was one great slide. 

But the Aim-Uncle was not in his mountain hut 
this winter; he had kept his word, and at the first 
snow-fall had locked up house and stable, and had 
taken Heidi and the goats down to Dorfli. Here, 
quite near the church and the parsonage, stood a 
rambling old building which in times long past 
had been a great mansion as was still plainly to be 
seen, although the entire structure was more or 
less in ruins. It had once been the home of a brave 
soldier of the Spanish wars, who had not only done 
many a valiant deed, but had taken much booty as 
well. With this he returned to his native place 
and built himself this handsome house in which he 
intended to spend the rest of his days. But be- 
fore long he wearied of quiet little Dorfli, and 


A WINTER IN DORFLI 


301 


longed to be back again in the noise and tumult 
he had learned to love. He closed his house and 
left Horfli never to return to it. After many 
years, when there could be no longer any doubt 
that the former owner was dead, a distant relative 
from down in the valley took possession of the 
house, but found it so nearly in ruins that he de- 
cided not to rebuild it. Since then, poor people 
who could not afford to pay much rent lived in it, 
and they gave little heed if here or there a stone fell 
or a wall crumbled away. 

But even that was long ago, and when the Alm- 
Uncle returned to Dorfli with his son, Tobias, he 
found the old house unoccupied, and so moved into 
it. After he left it, it remained empty most of the 
time, for no one who did not know how to mend a 
leak or a break here and there could live in it, for 
in Dorfli the winter was a long and bitter season. 
Then the draughts swept through the great bare 
rooms, blowing out the lights and making the un- 
fortunate inmates shiver and shake with the cold. 

But the Alm-Uncle knew what to do; as soon as 
he had decided to spend the winter in Dorfli he re- 
engaged the old house, and after that he spent 
many a fall day hammering and mending at the old 
house until it appeared to his satisfaction. About 
the middle of October he and Heidi moved into it. 

Upon coming into the house from the rear, the 


302 


HEIDI 


first room to be entered was half out of doors, for 
on one side the entire wall had disappeared, and 
on another only half remained standing ; the upper 
part of this still formed a bay window in which, for 
many years, there had been no glass; in its stead 
the friendly ivy had curtained the empty spaces, 
and then climbed upward until it reached the beau- 
tifully arched ceiling which was only partly de- 
stroyed, and plainly showed that this had once 
been a chapel. There was no door between it and 
the great hall beyond, where the floor was still 
partly covered by handsome tiles between which 
the grass had forced its way. Here, too, a part of 
the ceiling as well as half the walls had fallen and, 
had not a few heavy pillars supported what was 
left of the ceiling, any person standing beneath 
would had reason to fear it might fall and crush 
him. Here the Aim-Uncle had mended the walls 
and lined them all round with boards, and then 
covered the floor thickly with hay, for in this ancient 
hall the goats were to have their winter quarters. 

From here numerous passageways led away, all 
more or less in ruins, so that in some the blue sky 
could be seen 'above, while others gave a view of 
the fields and road beyond. But nearest at hand 
was a heavy oaken door which still hung firmly on 
its hinges, and led into a large room which had 
remained in good condition. Its four walls with 


A WINTER IN DORFLI 


303 


their deep wainscoting of oak were without a break, 
and in one corner stood a huge stove that reached 
almost to the ceiling, its white tiles ornamented with 
^ large pictures traced in blue. Here were to be 
seen ancient towers surrounded by high trees under 
which a hunter with his hounds was hurrying along ; 
then there was a quiet lake reflecting the wide- 
spreading branches of the trees that lined its shores 
where stood a flsherman holding his rod far out 
over the water. A bench that ran all the way 
round the stove, offered a convenient seat from 
which to study the pictures. 

Heidi was delighted with this spot. Hardly had 
she and her grandfather stepped into the room to- 
gether when she left him to run to the stove and, 
seating herself on the circular seat, began to study 
the pictures. Slipping along on the bench she soon 
came behind the stove where a new discovery 
claimed all her attention. There was quite a large 
space between the wall and the stove, and here her 
grandfather had set up four boards in the shape 
of an apple-bin. No apples were to be seen in it, 
however, but in their stead there was every evidence 
that this was to he Heidi’s bed. It was piled high 
with hay over which was drawn the sheet, and the 
whole was finished with the linen sack for a cover- 
let, just as it had been up in the loft of the Aim- 
hut. With a shout of joy, Heidi cried: — 


304 


HEIDI 


“Oh, grandfather, this is my bed-room! Oh how 
lovely! But where are you going to sleep?” 

“Your bed-room has to be near the stove, so that 
you will not freeze,” said her grandfather. “Come, ^ 
now you shall see mine too.” 

Skipping merrily along behind her grandfather, 
the child followed him to the other side of the long 
room, where he opened a door leading into a smaller 
one in which stood his own bed. There was a sec- 
ond door which Heidi quickly espied and opened, 
and then stood motionless with astonishment. Be- 
fore her was a sort of kitchen, but a much larger one 
than she had ever seen before. On all sides could 
be seen the handiwork of her grandfather, and yet 
there was still much for him to do, for there was 
not a wall which did not show rents and holes 
through which the wind could whistle in, although 
the Alm-Uncle had already boarded up so many 
that the room appeared to have innumerable little 
wooden closets on every wall. By means of nails 
and wires he had succeeded in hanging the massive 
old door on its hinges so that it could be closed 
tightly; and this was a good thing, for beyond it 
were only ruined walls between which weeds grew 
rank and high, while beetles and lizards crawled in 
and out. 

Heidi was delighted with her new home, and 
explored every nook and corner so thoroughly that 


A WINTER IN DdRFLI 


305 


when Peter came on the very next day to see how 
they were getting on in their new quarters, she was 
quite at home and could show him everything. 
Nor did she let him rest until he had seen each and 
every one of the strange and interesting things in 
this wonderful new dwelling. 

Although Heidi slept excellently in her bed be- 
hind the stove, her first waking thought was al- 
ways that she was still up in her mountain home, 
and that she must quickly run and open the door 
to see whether the pine trees were so silent because 
their houghs were heavy with new-fallen snow. 
Then she had to look all around the room before 
she could remember where she was, and when at 
length she realized that she was not on the Aim, she 
always felt a heavy weight and pressure at her 
heart. But when she heard her grandfather’s voice 
without, as he talked to Swanli and Bearli, and 
then heard their merry bleating in response as 
though they were saying: “Hurry up, Heidi, and 
come out to us,” she felt that she was at home after 
all, and leaping out of bed with a joyous bound 
she hurried into her clothes and out into the great 
goat-stable. 

On the fourth day in their new home Heidi an- 
nounced:—^ 

“To-day I must go to see the grandmother; she 
ought not to be left alone so long.” 


306 


HEIDI 


But her grandfather would not hear of it. “Not 
to-day, nor to-morrow either,” said he. “Up yon- 
der the snow lies as high as a man’s head now and 
it is still snowing. It is hard enough for a strong 
fellow like Peter to work his way through; a little 
thing like you would sink into the snow and soon 
be covered over so that no one could find her. Wait 
a little while; when it freezes, you can easily walk 
up there on the crust of the snow.” 

The waiting came a little hard at first, but Heidi’s 
days were so full of work now that before she was 
aware of it one had slipped away and another had 
come. Every morning and eveiy afternoon found 
her eagerly at work in the Dorfii school, learning 
all that was taught there; but only very rarely did 
she see Peter there, for he seldom came. The mas- 
ter of the school was a mild-tempered man, and only 
remarked once in a while : — 

“It seems that Peter is absent again. He needs 
his schooling badly enough, but I suppose it is hard 
to get through the heavy snow up yonder.” 

But toward evening, when school was over, Peter 
generally managed to get through and pay a visit 
to Heidi. 

After a few days the sun showed its face again, 
and shone down on the snow-covered earth; it did 
not stay long, however, but soon withdrew behind 
the mountains, as though it did not like what it be- 


A WINTER IN DORFLI 


307 


held as well as it did the green fields and gay blos- 
soms of summer. But in the evening the moon 
rose round and bright, and all night long shed its 
light on the vast snow-fields, and the next morn- 
ing the mountains glistened and glittered from sum- 
mit to base like gigantic crystals. 

When Peter jumped out of his little window, 
just as he had on the preceding days, a surprise 
awaited him; instead of sinking into the soft snow, 
he struck so hard that he rolled over and over, and 
before he was aware of it, slid on down the moun- 
tain like a sled without a rider to steer it. When 
at length he was on his feet again, he stood dazed 
for a moment, and then stamped on the crusty 
snow with all his might, as if to assure himself 
that what had just happened to him was really pos- 
sible. He was not mistaken; no matter how hard 
he struek the icy surface with his heel, hardly 
a splinter broke off. The whole mountain was 
frozen over as hard as a rock. Nothing could have 
pleased Peter more, for he knew very well that the 
snow must he like this before Heidi could come to 
see them. He hurried back to the house, swallowed 
the glass of milk that his mother had set on the 
table for him, thrust a piece of bread into his pocket 
and said hastily: — 

“I must he off to school.” 

“That’s right,” said his mother approvingly. 
“Go, and study hard.” 


308 


HEIDI 


Peter now crawled through the window, for the 
door was blocked by the mass of frozen snow in 
front of it; then he drew his sled out after him 
and, seating himself on it, shot like lightning down 
the mountain side. 

When he reached Dorfli, just at the point where 
the road continues downward to Mayenfeld, he 
sped on, for it seemed cruel both to himself and the 
sled to bring the ride to a sudden end. So he let 
the sled go on until it stopped of its own accord 
far down in the valley below. Then he got off 
and looked around to see where he was. So great 
had been his speed that he had been carried quite 
a distance beyond Mayenfeld. When he discov- 
ered this he concluded that it was useless to try to 
go to school, as it must have begun by this time, 
and it would take him an hour to climb back to 
Dorfli. So he did not hurry, and reached there 
just as Heidi had got home from school and was 
about to sit down to dinner with her grandfather. 

When Peter had anything on his mind he al- 
ways got rid of it as quickly as possible, and so, as 
he stepped into the room, he shouted: — 

“We Ve got it at last!” 

“What, Goat-general, what have you got? That 
sounds very ominous,” said the grandfather. 

“The ice crust,” explained the boy. 

“Oh, oh, now I can go to see the grandmother!” 


A WINTER IN DORFLI 


309 


was Heidi’s jubilant cry, for she had understood 
Peter’s meaning at once. 

“But why didn’t you come to school? You 
could get down easily enough on your sled,” she 
added reproachfully, for she thought it could not be 
right to stay away from school if it was possible to 
get there. 

“Was too late; sled carried me down too far,” 
was Peter’s explanation. 

“That’s what I call desertion,” said the grand- 
father, “and all who are guilty of it should be 
taken by the ears. Do you understand?” 

In terror Peter drew his cap down over his ears, 
for if there was any one in the world of whom 
Peter stood in awe, it was the Aim-Uncle. 

“And a leader, such as you are, ought to be 
doubly ashamed to run away like that,” continued 
the Uncle. “What would you say if for no reason 
whatever your goats would run off, one here and 
another there? And when you called them back 
they would not come and do what was best for 
them; what would you do then, I say.” 

“Beat them,” was Peter’s ready reply. 

“And suppose a boy acts just like an unruly 
goat and then gets a whipping for it, what would 
you say to that?” 

“Serves him right,” was the answer. 

“Very well, now you know what to expect. Goat- 


310 


HEIDI 


colonel; the next time that your sled carries you 
beyond the school house when you ought to be in 
it, come here to me, and I will give you what you 
deserve.” 

At last it dawned upon Peter that he himself 
was the runaway boy who ought to be punished 
like an unruly goat. The grandfather’s compari- 
son had quite convinced him of his guilt, and he cast 
anxious glances into all the corners of the room 
to see whether in one of them he could discover 
what under like circumstances he would use for his 
goats. 

But now the old man said pleasantly : — 

“Come, sit down and eat dinner with us; when 
you have finished you can take Heidi with you; 
toward evening you must bring her back, and then 
you can have supper with us.” 

This unexpected turn of affairs was a great re- 
lief to Peter, and a grin of delight spread his fea- 
tures in all directions. He needed no second invi- 
tation, but sat down at once beside Heidi. But 
the child wanted nothing more; so rejoiced was she 
at the prospect of seeing the grandmother that 
she could not swallow another mouthful. The 
large potato and piece of toasted cheese still left 
on her plate she gave to Peter, who was being 
helped from the other side by the grandfather un- 
til his plate had the appearance of a small moun- 


A WINTER IN DORFLI 


311 


tain. His courage did not fail him, however, and 
he began his attack upon it at once. 

Heidi ran to the closet to get the little cloak 
Klara had sent her; wrapped in this, and with the 
hood drawn over her head, she was ready to start. 
Taking her place beside Peter’s chair she stood 
waiting until the last morsel on his plate had dis- 
appeared in his mouth; then he said: “Now come!” 
whereupon the two started off together. 

Heidi had much to tell Peter about Swanli and 
Bearli; how on their first day in the new stable 
neither of them would eat a mouthful, and that 
they had done nothing but hang their heads all 
day long without so much as making a sound. 
When she had asked her grandfather why they 
did so, he had told her that they felt just as she 
had in Frankfort, for it was the first time in all 
their lives that they had been down from the Aim. 
To this Heidi added: — 

“And you have no idea how dreadful it is to feel 
so, Peter.” 

In this way the two children had nearly come to 
their journey’s end before Peter had said a word; 
indeed, he seemed so deep in thought that he could 
not even listen to Heidi as usual. Just before 
they reached Peter’s door he stopped suddenly, and 
turning to Heidi said doggedly: — 

“I would rather go to school than go to the Aim- 
Uncle and get what he said.” 


312 


HEIDI 


Heidi heartily agreed with him, and eagerly 
sought to strengthen him in his good resolve. 

Within the hut they found Peter’s mother sitting 
alone at her mending; the grandmother had not 
left her bed for the past few days. It was too cold 
for her, and she was not feeling very well besides, 
her daughter explained. This was something en- 
tirely new for Heidi who had never seen the grand- 
mother anywhere but in her place in the corner. 
She ran to the bed-room at once, and found her 
blind friend lying on her narrow cot, wrapped in 
the gray shawl, and only one thin blanket over her. 

“God be praised!” cried the grandmother as soon 
as she heard the child’s tripping footstep on the 
floor. Ever since autumn a secret fear had haunted 
her, and it always grew stronger when Heidi re- 
mained away a little longer than usual. Peter had 
told her of the gentleman from Frankfort who had 
spent so many days up on the pasture with Heidi, 
and had always found so much to say to her ; from 
this the grandmother concluded that the stranger 
had come to take Heidi away with him, and al- 
though the gentleman finally went home alone, she 
still feared that at any time some one might be 
sent from Frankfort to take the child hack there. 

Running to the bedside Heidi asked anxiously : — 

“Are you very sick, grandmother?” 

“No, no, child; I feel the cold in my limbs, that 


A WINTER IN DORFLI 313 


is all,” was the grandmother’s re-assuring reply as 
she patted the child’s cheek lovingly. 

“Then shall you be well again just as soon as it 
grows warmer?” Heidi inquired further. 

“Yes, yes; God willing, even sooner, so that I 
can get to my spinning again. I had hoped to try 
it to-day; but to-morrow I shall surely be at it 
again,” said the grandmother confidently, for she 
had noticed the child’s anxiety. 

Her answer quieted Heidi who was quite 
alarmed, for she had never before found the grand- 
mother in bed. As the child now looked at her 
friend more closely, a surprised and puzzled ex- 
pression came to her face; after a while she said:-^ 

“In Frankfort the ladies wear shawls when they 
go out to walk. Did you think yours was meant 
to be put on when you go to bed?” 

“You see, child, the bedclothes are rather thin, 
and I should be cold if I did not have the shawl to 
wrap around me. I was so glad to get it.” 

“But, grandmother,” Heidi began again, “your 
bed goes down hill where your head lies, instead of 
going up as it should.” 

“I know it, child; I can feel it very well,” said 
the grandmother as she tried to find a more com- 
fortable position on the pillow that lay as thin as a 
board under her head. “You see the pillow was 
never very thick, and I have had it so many years 
that it has grown thin.” 


314 


HEIDI 


“Oh, if only I had asked Klara to let me take my 
bed home with me from Frankfort!” Heidi ex- 
claimed regretfully. “It had three great, thick pil- 
lows, one on top of the other, so that I couldn’t 
sleep, and always slipped down to where it was 
flat; then I had to crawl up again, because that 
is the way to sleep in Frankfort. Could you sleep 
that way, grandmother?” 

“Yes, surely; the pillows would keep me warm, 
and it is so much easier to breathe when the head 
is high,” was the grandmother’s answer as she 
raised her head a little uneasily, as though in 
search of a higher place. “But let us not talk 
about that any longer; I have so much to be thank- 
ful for, so much that many old and sick people do 
not have — there is the good roll I get daily, and 
this beautiful warm shawl here, and that you come 
to see me so often, Heidi. Will you read some- 
thing to-day?” 

Heidi ran out and soon came back with the old 
hymn book. Then she found one beautiful hymn 
aher another; she knew them all now and was glad 
to read them again, for it seemed a long time since 
she had heard the beautiful verses she had learned 
to love. 

The grandmother lay with folded hands, and as 
she listened, her face that had looked so careworn 
and sad, grew bright with a happy smile as though 
she had heard glad tidings. 


A WINTER IN DORFLI 


315 


Suddenly Heidi paused. 

“Grandmother, are you well already?” she 
asked. 

‘T am happy, Heidi; what I heard has made me 
happy. Please read it to the end, will you?” 

The child read on, and when she came to the 
last lines, — 

**When my eyes grow dim and fail me. 

Shed thy light into my heart; 

And may angel voices hail me 

As for home from earth I part , — ** 


the grandmother repeated them over and over, 
and a look of joyful anticipation came to her face. 
It made Heidi glad to see her so, and at the last 
words all the beauty of the day on which she had 
come home rose before the child, and she said joy- 
ously : — 

“Grandmother, I know how good it is to go 
home.” 

The grandmother made no reply; but she had 
heard the child’s words, and the look of joy that 
Heidi had been so glad to see remained on her face. 

After a while Heidi said: — 

“It is growing dark, grandmother, and I must 
go home; but I am so glad that you feel better.” 

The grandmother took the child’s hand, and 
holding it in her own, said : — 


316 


HEIDI 


“Yes, I am content again; even should I have to 
remain in bed, I shall be happy. You do not 
know, my child, and no one can who has not felt it, 
how dreadful it is to lie day after day, hearing not 
a word for hours, and seeing nothing, not even a 
ray of sunlight. Then gloomy thoughts come one 
after another, and it seems as though there were 
no light anywhere, and one might as well give up. 
But such beautiful words as you have just read 
shed a new light into the heart that brings its own 
joy with it.” 

So saying, the grandmother let go of her little 
friend's hand, and as soon as they had bade each 
other good-night, Heidi hurried out of the room, 
pushing Peter before her, for it had grown quite 
dark. But out of doors it was almost as light as 
day, for the moon had risen and was shining 
brightly on the white snow. 

Peter got his sled ready and, seating himself on 
it, waited for Heidi to take the place behind him. 
Then, with a push, they were off, flying down the 
mountain-side like two birds on the wing. 

When later in the evening Heidi lay on her soft, 
high bed of hay in her corner behind the stove, she 
thought of the grandmother with her head so low 
and uncomfortable; and then the child remem- 
bered all the poor blind woman had said about the 
light that the words of the beautiful hymn shed 



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A WINTER IN DORFLI 


317 


into her heart. And she wished that the grand- 
mother might hear those words every day, for then 
there would at least be a little while each day when 
she would be happy. But Heidi knew very well 
that it might be a whole week, perhaps even two, 
before she could get up there again; and that 
seemed so sad to her that she tried harder and 
harder to think of some way by which the grand- 
mother might have those words read to her every 
day. All at once it came to her, and she was so 
glad, and so eager to begin on her new plan that 
she could hardly wait for the morning to come. 

Suddenly Heidi sat bolt upright in bed, for, so 
absorbed had she been in her thoughts about the 
grandmother that she had quite forgotten to send 
her evening prayer up to the dear Lord in heaven, 
and she was quite shocked, for she meant never to 
forget that again. 

After she had prayed earnestly for her grand- 
father and the grandmother and herself, she sank 
back on her soft pillow of hay and slept sweetly 
and peacefully until the morning light waked her. 


CHAPTER XIX 

THE WINTER CONTINUES 

O N the following day Peter’s sled brought 
him to the school-house door just in time. 
He had his luncheon in a bag, for it was a 
custom of the school that when the village children 
went home to dinner at noon, the pupils who lived 
far away all seated themselves on the school-room 
table, and with their feet on the benches, spread 
their luncheon on their knees and proceeded to eat 
it. Their recess lasted until one o’clock when 
school began again. Whenever Peter had passed 
a day at school, he rewarded himself at its close by 
going to the Alm-Uncle’s house to pay a visit to 
Heidi. 

To-day, when he appeared as usual in the 
Uncle s great kitchen, Heidi darted toward him, 
for she had been looking for him. 

“Peter,” she cried, ‘T have thought of some- 
thing!” 

“Tell it,” said he in return. 

“Now you will have to learn to read,” announced 
the little maid. 

“I’ve just got through,” was the reply. 

“No, no, I don’t mean that way. I mean so 

318 


THE WINTER CONTINUES 


319 


that you will know how when you get through,” 
Heidi explained eagerly. 

“Can’t,” said the boy. 

“No one believes you when you say that, and 
neither do I,” said Heidi very decidedly. “The 
grandmamma in Frankfort knew long ago that it 
M^asn’t true, and told me not to believe it.” 

Peter was overcome with amazement at this piece 
of news. 

“I will teach you how to read; I know a way,” 
Heidi went on. “You are surely going to learn 
to read now, and when you know how, you are to 
read a hymn or two to the grandmother every day.” 

“It’s no use,” growled Peter. 

This stubborn resistance to something that was 
good and right and which she herself had so much 
at heart made Heidi indignant. With flashing 
eyes she stood before the boy and said threaten- 
ingly:— 

“Let me tell you what will happen to you if 
you won’t learn to read. I have heard your 
mother say that she must send you to Frankfort 
to learn something, and I know very well where 
the boys go to school there; Klara showed me the 
great big house when we were out driving. But 
they don’t go to school there only while they are 
boys, but even after they have grown to be men. 
I have seen them myself. And don’t think for a 


320 


HEIDI 


moment that they have only one master there, as 
we have here, and such a kind one. No, indeed! 
I have seen whole rows of them go into the great 
school-house together, and they were all dressed in 
black as if they were going to church, and had tall 
black hats on their heads, as high as that” — and 
Heidi held out her hand to show the height of the 
hats above the floor. 

A shudder ran down Peter’s back. 

“And then you will have to go in there among 
all those gentlemen,” continued the eager child 
earnestly, “and when your turn comes and you 
can’t even read, and you make mistakes in spelling, 
you will see how all those gentlemen will make fun 
of you. That will be much worse than Tinette, 
and to have her laugh at one is bad enough.” 

“Then I’ll learn,” said Peter half sadly, half 
angrily. 

Instantly Heidi was pacified. 

“There, that is right; and now let us begin at 
once,” said she cheerily, as she pushed Peter to- 
ward the table and then hurriedly got together the 
necessary materials for the lesson. 

In the large package that Klara sent, Heidi had 
found a tiny book that had pleased her very much; 
it was a booklet of the A B C’s with jingling 
verses, and it was of this that the child had 
thought at once when the plan to teach Peter her- 


THE WINTER CONTINUES 


321 


self had entered her mind on the night before. 

The two children now sat down at the table, 
their heads bent over the little book, and the lesson 
began. 

Peter had to spell out the words of the first 
verse, once, twice and even a third time, for Heidi 
intended that he should know it perfectly and be 
able to read it fluently. At last she said: — 

“You don’t know it yet. Let me read the whole 
verse to you, for when you have heard what it 
ought to be, it will be easier for you to spell it 
out.” 

And Heidi read: 

*‘If your ABC you do not know. 

Away to be punished you must go/* 

“I won’t go,” said Peter obstinately. 

“Where?” asked Heidi with some surprise. 

“To be punished,” was the reply. 

“Then you must hurry and learn these three 
letters to-day so that you will not have to go,” 
urged Heidi. 

Hereupon Peter went at it again with renewed 
zeal, and patiently repeated the three letters over 
and over until Heidi said: — 

“There, now you know these three.” 

The impression which the threatening little verse 
had made on Peter had not escaped Heidi, and she 


322 


HEIDI 


shrewdly determined to deepen it as a spur to 
future effort. So she said: — 

‘‘Wait a minute, and I will read a few more 
yerses, so that you may know what more to 
expect.” 

And she began to read very slowly and dis- 
tinctly: — 


“If you do not learn D, E, F, G, 

In a sorry plight you soon will be. 

And who forgets his H, I, K, 

A painful forfeit has to pay. 

If L and M you do not learn. 

With grief and shame your cheeks will burn. 

Now quickly get N, O, P, Q, 

Else something ill will come to you.*' 

Here Heidi paused to look at Peter who was 
sitting beside her as quiet and still as a mouse. 
He was so overcome by all these threats and mys- 
terious terrors that he could not move a muscle, 
and sat staring at Heidi in abject fear. The boy’s 
terror touched the child’s kind heart, and she 
quickly sought to give him new courage by say- 
ing:— 

“You mustn’t be afraid, Peter, for if you come 
down here every afternoon and learn as well as 


THE WINTER CONTINUES 


323 


you did to-day, before long you will know all the 
letters, and then those dreadful things will not 
happen. But you must come every day, and not 
only once in a while, the way you go to school. 
You needn’t stay at home when it snows; it won’t 
hurt you.” 

Peter promised to do as he was told, for his ter- 
ror had made a most docile and willing boy of him. 
Then he went home. 

Peter did exactly as Heidi had ordered, and 
every afternoon wrestled manfully with a new 
letter or two, urged on by the terrible warning that 
the accompanying verse contained. 

During the lessons Heidi’s grandfather often sat 
in the room with the children, contentedly smoking 
his evening pipe, and as he listened to teacher and 
pupil, the corners of his mouth often twitched as 
though he found it difficult to keep a straight face. 

When Peter’s great exertions were over he was 
usually invited to stay to supper, in which he found 
ample compensation for the terror with which the 
day’s verse had filled him. 

In this way the winter days passed one after 
another, and on not one did Peter fail to come for 
his lesson, so that toward the end of the winter he 
had really made considerable progress with the 
alphabet. 

But the verses never ceased to vex and torment 


324 


HEIDI 


him. It was now time to struggle with the U, and 
Heidi read: — 

‘‘Whoe’er confounds the U and V 
Will go where he’ll not like to be.” 


whereupon Peter growled 

“But suppose I won’t go?” 

Nevertheless he applied himself with great 
earnestness, as though he feared that from some- 
where behind him a hand might be laid on his 
shoulder to carry him off to where he would not 
like to be. 

On the next afternoon Heidi read:- 

“If W is not learned at all. 

Behold the switch upon the wall.^’ 

At this Peter looked all round the room and then 
said scornfully: — 

“There isn’t any.” 

“Very true; but do you know what grandfather 
keeps in the big chest?” asked Heidi: “A stick 
almost as thick as my arm, and should he get that 
out we need only make the verse read : ‘Behold the 
stick upon the wall.’ ” 

Peter knew the heavy stick of hazelwood very 
well, and instantly gave all his attention to the W 
before him. 


THE WINTER CONTINUES 


325 


The next day’s verse ran: — 

**And if the X you should forget, 

Nothing to eat that day you’ll get.’* 

Hereupon Peter sent a searching glance over to 
the closet where he knew the bread and cheese were 
kept, and then said in a tone of resentment: — 

“But I am not going to forget the X.” 

“Oh, very well; if you won’t forget it we can 
learn another letter to-day,” was Heidi’s quick 
suggestion. “Then there will only be one left for 
you to learn to-morrow.” 

Although Peter did not say that he was willing, 
Heidi began at once: — 

‘‘And should you falter at the Y, 

You’ll be laughed at by and by.” 

Instantly the black-clothed gentlemen of Frank- 
fort rose before Peter, each one wearing a high 
black hat on his head, and a smile of derision on 
his face. Without another word the boy turned 
to the Y and wrestled with it until he knew it so 
well that even with his eyes closed he could see 
just how it looked. 

On the following day when Peter presented him- 
self before Heidi he held his head rather high, for 
he was aware that there was now only one letter to 
be learned. When Heidi read: — 


326 


HEIDI 


“And he who stammers over Z 
Soon with the Hottentots will be.“ 

Peter said jeeringly: — 

“Very likely, when no one so much as knows 
where they livel” 

“To be sure somebody knows where they live I 
Grandfather knows. I will run and ask him. He 
has not gone far, only to see the Herr Pastor,’’ 
and before she had finished speaking Heidi was 
half way to the door. 

“Stop!” shouted Peter in great alarm, for in 
imagination he saw the Alm-TJncle and the pastor 
both coming in haste to take him by the collar and 
hurry him ofF to the Hottentots, for he was well 
aware that he did not know the Z. 

On hearing his terrified cry, Heidi stood still, 
and asked in surprise: — > 

“What ails you?” 

“Nothing! Come back! I want to learn,” 
Peter brought forth between gasps of terror. But 
Heidi herself had grown curious to know where 
the Hottentots lived, and was bent upon asking 
her grandfather. But Peter called after her in so 
desperate a tone that she yielded and turned back; 
she required something from Peter in return, 
however. Not only did he have to study and re- 
peat the Z until it was impressed on his mind for 


THE WINTER CONTINUES 327 


all time, but he had to begin to make syllables, so 
that by the time the lesson was over he had taken 
a long step forward. 

Thus, day by day a little more progress was 
made. 

The ice crust on the snow melted, and day after 
day new snow fell on the old, and in this way three 
weeks passed in which there was not a day when 
Heidi could go to see the grandmother. This 
made the child more eager than ever in her work 
with Peter in the hope that he would soon be able 
to take her place at reading the hymns. And so 
at last there came a day when, upon leaving Heidi, 
Peter went home and on entering the house, de- 
clared : — 

‘T can do itl’^ 

“What, Peterli? What is it you can do?” asked 
his mother expectantly. 

“Read,” was the reply. 

“Is it possible! Did you hear that, grand- 
mother?” exclaimed Brigitte. 

The grandmother had heard, and was as much 
surprised as her daughter. 

“Now I must read a hymn; Heidi said so,” was 
Peter’s next announcement. His mother quickly 
took down the book, and the grandmother rejoiced 
that she was to hear some of the cheering words for 
which she longed. Peter seated himself at the 


328 


HEIDI 


table and began to read. His mother sat down 
beside him and listened attentively; at the end of 
each verse she exclaimed in wonder: — 

“Who would have thought it!” 

The grandmother also followed each verse with 
eager attention, but she said nothing. 

On the day following this great event it hap- 
pened that Peter’s class was called upon for an 
exercise in reading. When it came Peter’s turn, 
the master said: — 

“Shall I pass you, as usual, Peter, or will you 
try to — I cannot say read — try to stammer over a 
line or two?” 

Peter began and did not hesitate or stop until 
he had read three lines. 

The master laid his book down and looked at 
Peter in mute astonishment, as though he had 
never before heard anything so wonderful. At 
last he said: — 

“Peter, a miracle has been wrought upon you! 
During all the time that I worked with you in un- 
told patience, you did not so much as learn to put 
two letters together ; and now, that I have entirely, 
although very reluctantly, given up the attempt as 
utterly hopeless, you suddenly stand before me 
knowing not only the alphabet, but how to read, 
and quite well too. Who can work such miracles 
in these days, Peter?” 


THE WINTER CONTINUES 


329 


“Heidi can,” was the boy’s prompt answer. 

In great surprise the master looked over to 
where Heidi was sitting very demurely in her seat 
without the least appearance of a miracle-worker. 

The master continued: — 

“I have moreover observed a great change in 
you, Peter. Whereas formerly you used to remain 
away from school a week at a time, yes, even sev- 
eral weeks, now you are never absent a day. Who 
can have worked such a change for the better in 
you, Peter?” 

“The Aim-Uncle,” was the reply. 

With increasing wonder the master’s eyes wan- 
dered from Peter to Heidi, and back again to 
Peter. 

“We will try it again,” he said cautiously; and 
Peter was given three more lines on which to 
prove his ability. But it was really so, he had 
learned to read. 

As soon as school was over the master hastened 
to the parsonage to tell the pastor what had hap- 
pened, and how good an influence Heidi and her 
grandfather were having in the village. 

Every evening Peter now read a hymn aloud as 
Heidi had ordered, but no more; he never offered 
to read a second hymn, nor did the grandmother 
ever ask him to do so. 

To mother Brigitte, Peter’s new accomplishment 


330 


HEIDI 


was a source of daily wonder, and on many an 
evening when the hymn had been read and the 
reader tucked away in bed, she would say to the 
grandmother: — 

“We cannot be thankful enough that Peterli has 
learned to read so nicely; who can say now what 
he may not make of himself?” 

To this the grandmother once answered: — 

“Yes, it is a good thing that he has learned 
something, but I shall be very glad if the dear 
Lord sends an early spring so that Heidi can soon 
come again. The hymns do not seem at all the 
same when Peter reads them. So often something 
is left out of the verses and I have to think what it 
is, and by the time I have found it, he is so far 
ahead that I cannot follow the thought, and so I 
do not get as much good out of the hymns as when 
Heidi reads.” 

Truth to tell, Peter suited the reading to his 
own convenience ; whenever he came to a word that 
looked very long, or suggested other difficulties, 
he left it out altogether. “For,” thought he, 
“what difference can two or three words more or 
less in a verse make to grandmother; there are 
plenty left.” And so it happened that in the 
hymns that Peter read there was a wonderful 
scarcity of nouns. 


CHAPTER XX 


DISTANT FRIENDS ARE HEARD FROM 

M ay had come again. From every moun- 
tain height the well-filled streams leaped 
merrily downward, glad of their new 
found freedom. The bright spring sunshine lay 
on the upland pastures which were green once 
more; the last of the snow had melted away, and 
here and there in the fresh young grass the first 
flowers of spring were raising their bright little 
heads, tempted forth by the sun’s warm rays. 
Above, in the pine trees, the joyous spring breezes 
whispered among the great branches, and shook 
down the old dull needles to make place for the 
fresh young green with which the old trees were 
about to deck themselves. High overhead, with 
out-spread wings, the old eagle sailed majestically 
through the blue sky, while the warm sunshine 
streamed down on the Aim-hut and all around it, 
stealing into every crevice and corner, and drying 
the ground where the dampness had lingered long- 
est, so that everywhere it offered a dry and inviting 
seat. 

Heidi was in her dearly loved mountain-home 
again. In her joy she ran hither and thither, not 

331 


332 


HEIDI 


knowing where it was most delightful. Now she 
listened to the wind as it came rushing down from 
the great cliffs above with a deep, mysterious sound 
that grew louder and stronger with every moment, 
until it whistled away into the pine trees and bent 
and shook them with a shout of delight; and Heidi 
joined in the shout while she was blown hither and 
thither like a leaf before the wind. 

Then away she ran to the sunny place in front 
of the hut where she sat down on the ground and 
peered into the grass to see how many flower cups 
had opened, or would soon do so. Here, too, 
there were myriads of flies and other tiny creatures 
to watch as they crawled or hopped or danced 
about merrily in the pleasant sunshine, rejoicing 
in its warmth; and Heidi rejoiced with them and 
drank in the sweet spring air, fragrant with the 
odors of the newly quickened earth, and thought 
that never before had she seen the Aim so beauti- 
ful. The swarming little insects must have been 
as happy as Heidi herself, for as they hummed 
and buzzed about, they seemed to be singing in 
their own way: “On the Aim! On the Aim, the 
beautiful Aim!” 

From the shop behind the hut came the sound 
of busy hammering and sawing. Heidi hearkened 
in that direction; she knew and loved the sound 
well, for it was one of the earliest associations of 


DISTANT FRIENDS HEARD FROM 833 


her life on the Aim. In a moment she was on her 
feet and away to the shop to learn what her grand- 
father was making. Before the door of the shop 
stood a brand-new chair all ready for use, while 
her grandfather’s skilful hands were at work on a 
second one. 

“Oh, I know what you are making,” cried Heidi 
gaily. “We shall need them when the visitors 
from Frankfort come. That one is for the grand- 
mamma and the one on which you are at work is 
for Klara, and then — then there will have to be 
one more,” the child continued with evident mis- 
giving; “or do you think, grandfather, that Frau- 
lein Rottenmeier will not come with them?” 

“That is more than I can tell,” said the grand- 
father; “but it will be safer to have one ready for 
her so that if she comes we can ask her to sit 
down.” 

Heidi looked thoughtfully at the little wooden 
chairs without backs, and pictured to herself how 
the housekeeper would look sitting in one of them. 
After a while she said with a doubtful shake of her 
head : — 

“Grandfather, I don’t believe she would sit in 
one of them.” 

“Then we will invite her to take a seat on the 
sofa with the beautiful green-sward cover,” was 
her grandfather’s quick answer. 


334 


HEIDI 


While Heidi was still wondering where the beau- 
tiful sofa with the green-sward cover might be, 
the air was suddenly filled with whistling and 
shouting and the cracking of a whip, sounds that 
told their own story to Heidi. She was out of the 
shop in a twinkling, and the goats gathered around 
her as they came hopping and skipping down the 
mountain side. They must have been quite as 
happy to be back on the Aim as was Heidi herself, 
for they leaped higher and bleated more merrily 
than ever before, and Heidi was pushed first to one 
side and then to the other in their efforts to get 
near her and show their delight. 

But Peter thrust them all aside, one to the right 
and another to the left, for he had something for 
Heidi. When he had made his way to her side 
he held out a letter. “There!” he cried, leaving 
Heidi to guess the rest. She was much surprised, 
and asked wonderingly: — 

“Did you find a letter for me up on the pas- 
ture?” 

“No,” was the answer. 

“Well, where did you get it, Peter?” 

“Out of the lunch bag.” 

This was true enough, for on the previous even- 
ing the post-master of Dorfli had given him the 
letter to take to Heidi, and Peter had at once 
stowed it away in his empty lunch bag. In the 


DISTANT FRIENDS HEARD FROM 335 


morning he put his bread and cheese into the bag 
and then, as usual, took his goats to pasture. Al- 
though he had seen both Heidi and her grand- 
father when he came for their goats, he did not 
think of the letter again until, when he had finished 
his lunch of bread and cheese and was gathering 
up the crumbs, it fell into his hand. 

Heidi read the address with great interest and 
then ran to where her grandfather was at work; 
swinging the letter high over her head, she cried 
gaily : — 

“From Frankfort! From Klara! Don’t you 
want to hear it right away, grandfather?” 

He wanted very much to hear it, and Peter, who 
had followed close behind Heidi, also prepared to 
listen. Placing his back against the door-post he 
leaned heavily against it, for with this strong sup- 
port he found it easier to follow Heidi as she read. 

“Dear Heidi— ^ 

“Everything is packed, and in two or three days 
we are to start, just as soon as papa is ready; but 
he cannot go with us as he has to go to Paris first. 
The doctor comes to see us every day, and before 
he gets the door open he calls through the keyhole: 
‘Away! Away! To the Alps!’ He can hardly 
wait for the time to come when we shall be off. 
You have no idea how much he liked the Aim him- 


336 


HEIDI 


self. All through the winter he was at our house 
nearly every day, saying that he had to come be- 
cause he had so much to tell me. Then he would 
sit down 'beside me and tell me all about the days 
he spent with you and your grandfather up on the 
Aim, about the flowers and the mountains and the 
great stillness on the heights so far above the 
villages and roads, and about the flne fresh air. 
Almost always he would end by saying: ‘Up yon- 
der everybody must get well.’ And he himself is 
no longer the sad doctor he was for a while, but 
seems real young and merry again. 

“Oh, how glad I shall be to see you and every- 
thing up on the Aim, and to get acquainted with 
Peter and the goats. But first we are to go to 
Ragaz where I am to take the baths for six weeks 
according to the doctor’s orders. The rest of the 
summer we will spend in Dorfli from where I can 
be carried up to the Aim to spend every pleasant 
day with you. Grandmamma is coming too, and 
will stay as long as I do. But just think of it, 
Fraulein Rottenmeier does not want to go! 
Nearly every day grandmamma says: ‘How do 
you feel about the trip to Switzerland now, my 
good Rottenmeier? If you would like to go with 
us, do not hesitate to say so.’ FrMein Rotten- 
meier always declines with great politeness, saying 
that it was more than she could expect. But I 


DISTANT FRIENDS HEARD FROM 337 


know why she does not want to go. When Sebas- 
tian returned from his journey home with you, he 
gave us a most dreadful description of your moun- 
tain, telling how on all sides there are precipices 
and deep chasms into which there is danger of 
falling, while frightful cliffs overhang the narrow 
path which is so steep that at every step up there 
is danger of falling backward down the mountain, 
and that, though it may do well enough for goats, 
no person can travel on it without risk to his life. 

‘T saw her shudder as he told about it, and since 
then she has lost all desire for a trip to the Alps. 
Tinette, too, has been frightened off, and will not 
go with us; so grandmamma and I are coming 
alone. Sebastian is to go with us as far as Ragaz, 
where he will turn hack. 

‘Tt is so hard to wait until I shall be with you. 

“Farewell, dear Heidi. Grandmamma sends a 
thousand loving greetings. 

“Your sincere friend, 

“Klara.” 

When Peter had heard the letter he sprang 
away from the door-post against which he had 
been leaning and swung his whip so angrily and 
recklessly to right and left that the goats all took 
to their heels and made off down the mountain in 
longer and wilder leaps than they had ever taken 


338 


HEIDI 


before. Peter rushed down after them, striking 
first to one side and then to the other with his whip 
as though venting his rage on some unseen foe be- 
fore him. It was the prospect of visitors from 
Frankfort that was the foe which had so roused 
Peter’s anger. 

Heidi’s happiness and joyful expectation would 
not let her wait longer than the next day to go 
down and tell the grandmother all about it — who 
were coming from Frankfort, and especially who 
were not coming. This was all of the greatest in- 
terest to the grandmother, for she had heard so 
much about the people in Frankfort, and she sym- 
pathized with Heidi in all that the child did and 
thought. 

It was early in the afternoon when Heidi started 
on her way down the mountain, for now that the 
bright long days had come again she could go on 
these visits by herself. The ground was so dry 
that it was a pleasure to run down hill, and the 
merry May breezes, sweeping down from above, 
sent her even faster on her way. 

The grandmother was not in bed now, but sat at 
her spinning wheel in her accustomed corner. Her 
face wore a troubled look, for ever since the previ- 
ous evening her heart had been heavy, and all 
night long anxious thoughts had kept her awake. 
Peter had come home in a state of fierce excite- 


DISTANT FRIENDS HEARD FROM 339 


ment, and from his disconnected and angry ex- 
clamations she had learned that Heidi and her 
grandfather were expecting a whole company of 
people from Frankfort. Why they were coming 
he did not know, but the grandmother had her own 
thoughts about it, and it was these thoughts that 
had troubled her and disturbed her sleep. 

Suddenly the door opened and Heidi came 
bounding into the room and straight to the grand- 
mother’s side, where she sat down on the footstool 
that always stood there ready for her. She began 
at once to tell her friend the great news, and in 
her eagerness to leave nothing untold she grew 
more and more excited over it herself. But sud- 
denly she stopped in the middle of a sentence to 
ask with great concern: — ' 

“What is the matter, grandmother? Doesn’t it 
make you the least bit glad to hear about it?” 

“Oh yes, yes, Heidi; I am glad for your sake, 
because it will give you so much pleasure,” said 
the grandmother, trying to look a little more 
cheerful. 

“But, grandmother, I can see that it troubles 
you. Do you think that after all Fraulein Rotten- 
meier will come with them?” asked Heidi, growing 
a little anxious herself. 

“Oh, no, no, child! It is nothing, nothing at 
all,” was the grandmother’s reassuring answer. 


340 


HEIDI 


‘‘Let me hold your hand a while Heidi, that I may 
feel quite sure that you are still here. It will no 
doubt be the very best thing for you, but it does 
seem more than I can bear.” 

“I do not want what is best for me if it is more 
than you can bear, grandmother,” said Heidi with 
so much firmness that her poor old friend was 
seized by a new fear, for she did not doubt that the 
people from Frankfort were coming to take Heidi 
home with them; for now that the child was quite 
well again there was no reason why she should not 
go back with them. This was the grandmother’s 
great fear, but she saw that it would not do to let 
Heidi know it, lest, out of pity for her, the child 
should refuse to go, and that must not be. In her 
trouble she sought for help, but not long, for she 
knew of but one that never failed. 

“I know something that will cheer me, Heidi, 
and bring me the thoughts I love,” she said 
presently. “Read me the hymn that begins: ‘The 
Lord will guide thee.’ ” 

Heidi was so familiar with the old hymn book 
now that she opened to the page at once, and began 
to read in a clear voice: 

“The Lord will guide thee, 

From danger hide thee. 

Send thee what is best and right. 


DISTANT FRIENDS HEARD FROM 341 


In pain and sadness, 

Be this thy gladness: 

Thou art precious in his sight.” 

“Yes, yes, that’s it; that is just what I wanted to 
hear,” said the grandmother with a sigh of relief 
as the look of anxiety gradually left her face. 

Heidi looked at her thoughtfully for a moment; 
then she said: — 

“ ‘What is best and right’ means what will make 
us happy, doesn’t it, grandmother?” 

“Yes, yes, child; that is what it must mean,” 
said the grandmother, nodding her head in assent; 
“and since the dear Lord will make it right in the 
end we can feel quite safe and need not worry. 
Read it again, Heidi, that we may learn it well 
and not forget it.” 

The child read and re-read the verse, for she, 
too, felt the joy of the promise that it gave. 

When evening had come, and Heidi was on her 
homeward way up the steep mountain path, one 
little star after another came twinkling forth over- 
head, and shone down on her as though to shed a 
new joy into her glad young heart; and Heidi had 
to stand still and look up at them now and again, 
until at last, when she saw all the countless stars 
beaming down on her so joyously, she called up to 
them : — 

“I know why we can all feel so glad and so safe; 


342 


HEIDI 


it is because the dear God knows and sends us all 
what best and right!'’ 

And still the stars shone and shimmered, and 
seemed to beckon Heidi on her way until she 
reached her grandfather’s door, where he, too, was 
standing looking up at the stars, for seldom had 
he seen them so beautiful. 

Not only the days, but the nights, too, were 
clear and bright in this beautiful month of May, 
more so than in many years past; and often in the 
morning the grandfather stood looking in wonder 
at the sun as it rose in a clear sky with all the 
splendor in which it had set the night before. 
Then he would exclaim: “ ’Tis a year of unusual 
sunshine, and all the herbs and grasses will be 
more than ordinarily strength-giving. Take care. 
Goat-general, that your high- jumpers do not get 
the better of you, with all this high living!” 

Whereupon Peter would swing his switch in so 
brave a fashion that it sang in the air, and the look 
on his face said plainly enough: ‘T haven’t the 
least fear of that!” 

And so the pleasant month of May passed, with 
its tender green; and June came, bringing the 
long, long bright days with their warm sunshine 
that waked all the many-hued blossoms until the 
whole mountain-side was gay with them^ and far 
and wide the air was filled with sweet odors. And 


DISTANT FRIENDS HEARD FROM 343 


June, too, was drawing to a close when one morn- 
ing Heidi came bounding out of the hut where she 
had just finished her morning duties. She meant 
to run quickly to the pine trees and listen awhile 
to their music, and then go up a little farther where 
stood the big bush of red centauries heavy with its 
weight of blossoms that looked so lovely with the 
sunlight shining through their transparent cups. 
But she had hardly turned the corner of the hut 
when she gave a loud cry that brought her grand- 
father out of his shop to see what was the matter, 
for this was something unusual for Heidi. 

“Grandfather, oh, grandfather!” cried the child 
in a frenzy of excitement, “Gome here! Come 
over here! Look! Look!” 

Her grandfather followed the direction of the 
excited child’s finger and saw a strange procession, 
the like of which had surely never before been seen 
on the mountain, come slowly up the steep path. 
First of all came two men carrying an open bath- 
chair between them; in it sat a young girl wrapped 
in many shawls ; next came a horse on which rode 
a stately lady who looked at everything about her 
with great interest while she talked to the young 
guide at her side. Then followed an empty wheel- 
chair which a sturdy young fellow was pushing up 
the steep incline while its usual occupant was being 
taken up more comfortably in the bath-chair 


344 


HEIDI 


ahead. Last of all came a carrier whose pack of 
blankets, shawls and fur rugs towered far above 
his head. 

“They’re coming! They’re coming!” shouted 
Heidi, dancing up and down with delight. 

It was indeed the long expected guests. Slowly 
they came nearer and at last reached the door 
where the men set down their burden and the two 
little friends greeted each other with rapture. 
Now the grandmamma’s horse was at the door, and 
as soon as she had dismounted Heidi ran to her 
and received a loving greeting. Then the old lady 
turned to the Alm-Uncle who had come forward 
to welcome his guests. The two needed no intro- 
duction, but met like old friends, for each had 
heard so much of the other. 

As soon as the first words of greeting were said 
the grandmamma exclaimed with great enthusi- 
iasm: — 

‘What a glorious situation you have, my dear 
Uncle! Who could have imagined its beauty! 
Many a king might envy you for it! And how 
well my little Heidi looks! As fresh as a rose!” 
she continued, patting the child’s round cheeks. 
“What wonderful beauty all about us ! And what 
do you think of it, Klara, my child?” 

Klara looked around her in perfect delight; it 
was all far beyond anything she had imagined, for 
never before had she seen anything like it. 





Grandfather y come over here ! Look ! Look ! ’ ’ 



DISTANT FRIENDS HEARD FROM 345 


“Oh, it is beautiful, beautiful!” she exclaimed 
over and over. “I had no idea it would be like 
this! Oh, grandmamma, I should like to stay 
here!” 

Meanwhile the Uncle had moved the wheel-chair 
nearer and, taking a soft blanket or two from the 
pack, he spread them on the seat; then he turned 
to the little group of friends and said: — ' 

“If the little girl were in her usual chair she 
would be more comfortable, for I fear she will find 
the one she is in a little hard.” 

Without waiting for help he lifted the sick girl 
in his strong arms and placed her gently in the 
seat he had prepared for her. Then he covered 
her with a shawl, carefully tucked it in around her, 
and arranged the cushions under her feet as com- 
fortably as though all his life long he had taken 
care of invalids with aching limbs. The grand- 
mamma looked on in astonishment. 

“My dear Uncle,” she exclaimed at length, “if 
I knew where you learned to care for sick peopje, 
I would send every nurse to the same school to 
learn her business. How well you do it!” 

The Uncle smiled a little sadly. 

“It comes from practice rather than from 
study,” he remarked as the look of sadness on his 
face deepened; for out of the dim past there rose 
before him the suffering face of a man whom he 


346 


HEIDI 


had often seen reclining in a chair like this one, 
and whose limbs had been so maimed that he was 
quite helpless. It was the face of his captain, 
whom he had found lying wounded on a battle- 
field in Sicily after a fierce fight, and had carried 
to a place of safety; after that the sick man would 
let no one else wait on him, and the Uncle had re- 
mained with him and nursed him with tender care 
until his great sufferings were ended. Now the 
little invalid before him brought back those days 
to the old man, and he felt he must care for her 
and give her all the loving service he understood 
so well. 

The sky stretched bright and cloudless above 
their heads and over the hut and the tall pine trees 
and far away to where the shining gray cliffs 
pierced its deep blue. Klara could not look at it 
enough; she was in rapture over all the beauty 
around her. 

“Oh, Heidi, if I could only run with you round 
the hut and to the pine trees yonder!” she cried 
with a great longing. “How I wish I could go 
everywhere with you and look at all the many 
things I know so well but have never seen 1” 

Now Heidi made a great effort and really suc- 
ceeded in pushing the chair on, and soon it moved 
quite easily over the smooth turf. Under the 
pines she stopped, and here, too, Klara’s wonder 


DISTANT FRIENDS HEARD FROM 347 


knew no bounds, for never before had she seen 
anything like these towering trees, clothed with 
branches from top to base where they grew longest 
and thickest and nearly swept the ground. 

The grandmamma had followed the children, 
and she, too, looked at the old trees in wondering 
admiration, not knowing which she thought more 
beautiful, the swaying tops that sighed in the 
breeze far overhead, or the strong trunks that rose 
as straight as pillars with their great spreading 
branches that told of all the many, many years in 
which they had looked down into the valley below, 
where the people came and went, and all things 
changed, while they themselves remained ever the 
same. 

After a while Heidi wheeled the chair to the 
goat-stable where she threw the door wide open so 
that Klara might see everything within. But 
here there was not much to see, as the little occu- 
pants were not at home. With great regret Klara 
called out: — 

“Oh, grandmamma, if I could only stay until 
Swanli and Bearli and all the other goats come 
down from the pasture with Peter! I shall never 
see them if we always have to go back as early as 
you said we should; and that is too bad!” 

“My dear child, let us enjoy all that is so lovely 
about us now, and not think of what we cannot 


348 


HEIDI 


have,” said the grandmamma as she walked beside 
the chair which Heidi was already pushing on 
toward new scenes. 

“Oh, the flowers!” Klara exclaimed now; “whole 
bushes covered with beautiful red blossoms! And 
look at all the nodding little bluebells! Oh, if I 
could only go over there and pick some!” 

Instantly Heidi was among the flowers gather- 
ing whole handfuls, which she brought to the little 
invalid. Laying them in her lap, she said: — 

“But these are nothing, Klara. Wait until you 
can go up to the pasture with us; then you will 
open your eyes! There you will see many, many 
bushes of the red centauries all close together, and 
ever so many more bluebells than there are here, 
and thousands of the bright yellow rockroses that 
make the ground look as though it were strewn 
with gold. Then there are those flowers with the 
big leaves that grandfather calls sun’s eyes, and 
the brown ones with the little round heads of which 
I have told you and that smell so sweet. Oh, it is 
so beautiful where they grow that when I am 
sitting beside them I never want to get up, it is so 
lovely.” 

Heidi’s eyes grew bright with eagerness to be- 
hold again all the splendor of which she was 
telling, and Klara’s gentle blue eyes beamed in re- 
sponse as her enthusiasm kindled at Heidi’s glow- 
ing description. 


DISTANT FRIENDS HEARD FROM 349 


“Oh, grandmamma, do you suppose I shall ever 
see them? Do you think I can get up as far as 
that?” asked Klara longingly. “Oh, if I could 
only walk, Heidi! Then we would climb about 
the Aim together, and I would go everywhere with 
you!” 

‘T will wheel you everywhere,” was Heidi’s con- 
soling reply, and to show how easily she could do 
it she pushed the chair so vigorously round the 
corner of the hut that its speed almost carried it 
down the mountain side. But the grandfather was 
standing near and stopped it just in time. 

While the others had been making their visit to 
the pine trees, the grandfather had not been idle. 
Beside the bench that always stood in front of the 
hut he had set the table with the necessary chairs 
around it, so that now everything was ready for 
the excellent dinner whose appetizing odors rose 
from the steaming kettle and the toasting fork 
over the glowing embers. In a few minutes the 
grandfather had placed everything on the table 
around which the little company was soon seated. 

The grandmamma was delighted with this 
charming dining-room with its view far down into 
the valley and away off over all the mountain tops 
into the deep-blue sky beyond. A gentle breeze 
fanned the cheeks of the merry party as they sat 
at dinner, and made sweet music in the pine-tops, 
as if for their special benefit. 


350 


HEIDI 


“It is glorious up here! Never before have I 
seen anything like it!’’ were some of the grand- 
mamma’s exclamations of delight. “But what is 
this?” she added in surprise. “Are you really 
beginning on a second piece of toasted cheese, 
Klara, my dear?” 

It was, indeed, the second piece of golden brown 
cheese that lay on Klara’s slice of bread, as she as- 
sured her grandmother that it tasted so good, bet- 
ter than everything put together at Ragaz, and 
then bit with relish into the savory morsel. 

“That’s right! That’s right!” said the grand- 
father with a nod of approval. “It’s the effect of 
our mountain breezes; they make up for all that’s 
wanting in the cooking.” 

And so the merry meal went on; the grand- 
mamma and the Alm-Uncle got along famously 
together, and their conversation grew more and 
more animated. They shared so many opinions 
regarding people and events, as well as life in gen- 
eral, that it seemed as though they had been friends 
for years. In this way the time passed so quickly 
that the grandmamma was surprised when she 
glanced up and saw how long the shadows had 
grown. 

“We must be getting ready, Klara, my dear; 
the sun is in the west, and the men will soon be here 
with your chair and the horse.” 


DISTANT FRIENDS HEARD FROM 351 


Klara’s happy face grew long at this announce- 
ment. 

Oh, let us stay an hour longer, or two,” she 
pleaded earnestly. “We haven’t been in the hut 
yet, nor seen Heidi’s bed, nor anything in there. 
Oh, if the day were only ten hours longer!” 

‘ It isn’t wise to wish for what we cannot have,” 
remarked the grandmamma. But she, too, wanted 
to go into the hospitable little home. They left 
the table at once and the Uncle’s steady hand 
pushed the invalid’s chair to the door; but, alas! it 
would go no farther, for it was much too wide to 
go through. The Uncle did not hesitate long, 
however, but took Klara in his strong arms, and 
carried her into the hut. 

Hither and thither went the grandmamma, see- 
ing everything, and much amused at all the novel 
housekeeping arrangements that looked so neat 
and orderly. 

“That is your bed up in the loft, isn’t it, Heidi?” 
she asked, and was on her way up the little ladder 
without a moment’s hesitation. 

“Oh, what delightful fragrance!” she exclaimed. 
“It is no wonder that you sleep well in such a 
chamber!” 

Now she discovered the round loophole, and was 
soon peering through it, while the grandfather, 
with Klara in his arms, came climbing up the lad- 
der, and Heidi scrambled gaily after. 


352 


HEIDI 


Soon they were all standing around Heidi’s bed 
of hay, and as the grandmamma looked down at it 
with a thoughtful air, she drew in deep breaths of 
the fragrant air about her. Klara was delighted 
with Heidi’s sleeping-room. 

“Oh, Heidi, what a lovely place you have! 
From your bed you can look right out into the blue 
sky, and you can smell the sweet hay, and hear the 
pine trees singing outside. Oh, never before have 
I seen such an entertaining bed-room!” 

With a glance at the grandmamma the Alm- 
Uncle now said:-- 

“I have a little plan that I should like to try if 
the grandmamma approves it, and feels she can 
trust me. It seems to me that if the little girl 
could stay up here with us awhile she would gain 
new strength, and might get quite well again. I 
saw a number of shawls and blankets that were 
brought up ; with these we can make an excellently 
soft bed here in the loft; and in regard to the care 
of the little girl, there need be no anxiety, I will 
undertake that myself.” 

Klara and Heidi shouted with joy while a look 
of glad surprise came into the grandmamma’s 
sunny face. 

“My dear Uncle, you are a man after my own 
heart!” she exclaimed. “What do you suppose I 
was just thinking? I was saying to myself: ‘If 


DISTANT FRIENDS HEARD FROM 353 


the child could stay up here awhile she would gain 
wonderfully. But what a care and anxiety, be- 
sides the inconvenience, she would be to her host.’ 
And here you are offering to do it all just as 
though it were a trifle. I thank you, my dear 
Uncle, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!” 
and grasping the old man’s hand she gave it a 
hearty shake, which he returned with a pleased and 
happy look on his face. 

The Uncle immediately began his newly as- 
sumed duties. First he carried Klara down stairs 
to put her into her comfortable chair in front of 
the hut, while Heidi came dancing on behind 
them, finding no leap high enough to express her 
joy. Then he gathered up all the shawls and fur 
rugs in his arms and, turning to the grandmamma 
with an amused smile, said: — 

‘Tt is fortunate that the grandmamma prepared 
for her little jaunt up the mountain as though she 
were bound on a winter’s campaign; the things 
will be useful.” 

“My dear Uncle,” retorted the grandmamma, 
as she joined him, “precaution is an excellent vir- 
tue and prevents many a misfortune. Any one 
who makes a journey across your mountains with- 
out being caught in a storm of wind and rain, or 
even a cloud-burst, has reason to be grateful, and 
we are very thankful. But my bundle of wraps 


354 


HEIDI 


will not come amiss, as you have just said, so we 
are fully agreed on that point.” 

With this merry banter the two had climbed up 
the ladder to the loft, and were now standing in 
front of the fragrant bed of hay on which they 
spread the rugs and blankets, one on top of the 
other, until in the end it looked more like a little 
fortress than a bed. 

“Now let us see whether a single whisp of hay 
dares poke its way through,” said the grand- 
mamma, as she pressed her hand down on the soft 
surface on all sides; but not one could be felt 
through the many thicknesses. Satisfied with her 
work, she made her way down the ladder again and 
joined the children who, with beaming faces, were 
sitting dose together making their plans for all 
the days that Klara was to spend on the Aim. 
But how many of these were there to be? This 
was the question which the grandmamma was im- 
mediately called on to answer. But she referred 
the children to the grandfather who was just ap- 
proaching, and who, she said, could tell them better 
than she could. When the question was now 
eagerly put to him, he replied that four weeks 
would show whether the pure mountain air would 
do for Klara what was expected of it. On hear- 
ing this the children broke forth into louder cries of 
joy than before, for such a long time together ex- 
ceeded even their greatest hopes. 


DISTANT FRIENDS HEARD FROM 355 


The men who had carried Klara’s chair, and the 
guide with the horse were now seen coming up the 
mountain. The former was sent back at once 
empty-handed. 

As the grandmamma mounted her horse, Klara 
exclaimed gaily: — 

“Oh, grandmamma, we need not say ‘good-bye,’ 
for you will come up every few days to see how we 
are getting on, and that will be such fun, won’t it, 
Heidi?” 

Heidi, whose pleasant surprises seemed to have 
no end to-day, could only show her glad approval 
by a joyous leap into the air. 

When the grandmamma was seated on her 
steady horse the Uncle took it by the bridle and 
led it carefully down the steep mountain path. 
Although the grandmamma protested that this was 
not at all necessary, the Uncle insisted on going 
with her all the way to Dorfli, declaring that the 
mountain was so steep that the ride down was not 
without danger. 

Since the grandmamma was now to be alone, 
she decided not to stay in quiet little Dorfli, but to 
return to Ragaz, and from there make an occa- 
sional visit to her little granddaughter. 

The grandfather had not yet returned when 
Peter and his goats came bounding down from the 
pasture. No sooner had the little creatures seen 


356 


HEIDI 


Heidi than they crowded toward her, and in an in- 
stant not only she, but Klara, too, in her chair be- 
side her, was in the midst of the throng. In their 
eagerness the goats pushed forward one after the 
other, each in turn raising a curious head to look 
at the stronger, and so giving Heidi an excellent 
opportunity to name and introduce them to her 
friend. 

And so, in the shortest time possible, Klara had 
the long desired pleasure of seeing sweet little 
Snowhopli, the valiant Goldfinch and the grandfa- 
ther’s well-kept pair, besides all the others from the 
least all the way up to the big Turk himself. 
Peter, however, stood on one side and cast threat- 
ening glances at the happy little visitor. 

When the children looked merrily over at him, 
and called out a friendly: “Good evening, Peter!” 
he answered never a word, but swinging his switch 
so fiercely over his head that it almost snapped in 
two, he rushed down the mountain with his goats 
scampering after him. 

The close of Klara’s happy day of new experi- 
ences was as delightful as the rest. 

As she lay on the great soft bed up in the hay- 
loft, and Heidi was just climbing up to her place 
beside her, she looked through the round loophole 
and saw all the twinkling stars beyond. With an 
exclamation of delight, she cried: — 



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DISTANT FRIENDS HEARD FROM 357 


“Oh, Heidi, see, it is just as though we were in 
a high carriage, driving straight into the sky!’' 

“So it is, Klara! And do you know why the 
stars are so happy and are always twinkling down 
at us so merrily?” asked Heidi. 

“No, I don’t; why is it?” asked Klara. 

“Because, up there, so near to the dear God in 
heaven, they can see how well He has planned 
everything for the people down here on earth, so 
that they need never be anxious, because every- 
thing will surely come right in the end. That is 
why they are so glad. See how they twinkle! 
That is to tell us that we, too, ought to he glad. 
But you know, Klara, we mustn’t forget to say our 
prayers, and ask the dear God to remember us 
when He makes all his wise plans, so that we, too, 
may feel safe and never be afraid of anything.” 

Hereupon the two children sat up in bed and, 
folding their hands, said each her own little prayer. 
Then Heidi laid her head on her round arm and 
went fast asleep. But Klara lay awake a long 
time, for never before had she seen anything so 
wonderful as this strange couch on which the stars 
shone down. 

Indeed, in all her life she had seen but little of 
the stars, for she had never been out of doors at 
night, and at home, in the big house in Frankfort, 
the heavy curtains were always drawn long before 


358 


HEIDI 


the stars came twinkling forth. And that was 
why, when now she closed her eyes, she felt she 
must quickly open them again to see whether the 
two great stars were still shining and twinkling 
down at her as Heidi had said. 

But they were always there, and it seemed to 
Klara that she would never grow weary of looking 
up at them as they sparkled and glittered so won- 
derfully. But after a while her eyes grew heavy 
and closed in spite of her, and the stars she saw 
were the stars of dreamland. 


CHAPTER XXI 


FURTHER EVENTS ON THE ALM 

T he sun was just rising from behind the great 
cliffs and shedding its first golden rays on the 
little hut and down into the valley beyond. 
The Alm-Uncle was standing before the door as 
he did every morning; he had been gazing thought- 
fully at the scene before him, as slowly the gray 
mists rose and floated away from the jagged peaks, 
followed before long by the heavier mists of the 
valley; then gradually the dark shadows melted 
away and the land awoke to another day. 

Brighter and brighter grew the light morning 
clouds until at last the glorious sun came forth and 
flooded cliff and wood and hill-top with its golden 
light. 

Then the Uncle turned, and going into the hut, 
climbed softly up the little ladder to the loft. 
Klara had just awakened and was looking in wide- 
eyed wonder at the bright sunbeams that came 
glancing through the round loophole and, as they 
fell on her bed, danced merrily there. She did not 
know where she was, nor what these strange things 
were all around her. But the next moment she 
saw Heidi sleeping soundly beside her, and at the 

359 


360 


HEIDI 


same time heard the grandfather’s cheery voice 
asking: — < 

“WeU, did you have a good night, or are you 
still a little tired?” 

Klara assured him that she was not at all tired, 
and that after she had fallen asleep she did not 
waken all night long. The grandfather was well 
pleased with this report and began at once to wait 
upon Klara so well and so handily that one might 
have thought that his whole life had been spent in 
caring for invalid children and making them com- 
fortable. 

Before long Heidi, too, opened her eyes and 
looked in astonishment at Klara who was already 
dressed and being carried away in the grandfa- 
ther’s arms. Heidi, who did not like being left be- 
hind, was on her feet in an instant, dressing as 
quick as lightning; then away she went, down the 
ladder and out of the door. In front of the hut 
she stopped in amazement to see what her grand- 
father was doing now. 

On the foregoing evening, after the children had 
gone to bed, he had found it necessary to devise 
some way of bringing the wheel-chair under cover, 
as the door of the hut was much too narrow to ad- 
mit it. A happy thought had come to him, and he 
had carried it out at once. Removing two boards 
from the side of the shop he had pushed the chair 


FURTHER EVENTS ON THE ALM 361 


through the wide opening thus made, and had 
then replaced the boards without fastening them 
firmly. 

Now he had carried Klara into the shop and, 
after seating her in the chair, was just pushing it 
through the opening when Heidi came upon them 
and opened her eyes in wonder. After wheeling 
Klara to the sunny place in front of the hut, he 
left her there and went to the goat-stable, while 
Heidi quickly ran to her little friend’s side. 

The fresh morning wind played about the chil- 
dren, bringing with every gust the spicy odor of 
the pine trees with which the air was laden. Klara 
breathed deeply and leaned back in her chair with 
a feeling of strength she had never had before. 

And it was no wonder, for never before had she 
breathed fresh morning air such as this that came 
sweeping down to her from pine-clad mountains, 
so cool and fragrant that every breath was a de- 
light, while the lovely bright sunshine, that was 
never hot at this great height, fell on her hands and 
warmed them, and lay on the dry and grass-grown 
earth at her feet. That it could be as lovely as 
this up on the Aim she had never dreamed. 

“Oh, Heidi, if I could only stay up here with 
you forever and ever!” she cried, turning first one 
way and then another to catch the sunshine and 
breeze from every side. 


362 


HEIDI 


“Now you see that I was right when I told you 
that grandfather’s Aim is the loveliest place in all 
the world,” was Heidi’s joyous reply. 

Her grandfather now came to the children with 
a bowl of foaming warm milk in each hand, one 
for Klara and one for Heidi. “It will do you 
good,” said he with a pleasant nod at Klara. “It 
is from Swanli, and will give you strength. Good 
health to you! Now drink it up!” 

Klara had never tasted goat’s milk and, before 
drinking it, sniffed at it a bit to find out what it 
was like. But when she saw Heidi place the bowl 
to her lips and drain it with a relish that left her 
no time to breathe, she thought it must be good in- 
deed. Taking a sip, she found it as sweet and 
pleasant to the taste as though it had been spiced 
and sugared, and she drank and drank until her 
bowl, too, was empty. 

“To-morrow you shall have two,” said the grand- 
father, as he saw with satisfaction how well Klara 
had followed Heidi’s example. 

Peter and his flock now came galloping up the 
mountain, and while Heidi was quickly pressed 
forward into their midst by the eager greetings of 
the merry creatures, her grandfather called Peter 
to one side, where the boy could better hear what 
he had to tell him; for whenever the goats saw 
Heidi they seemed to vie with one another to see 


FURTHER EVENTS ON THE ALM 363 


which of them could bleat the loudest to express 
their love and delight. 

“Attention! And listen carefully to what I tell 
you,” said the Aim-Uncle. “From now on you 
are to let Swanli feed where she likes. She has a 
way of finding the richest grasses and herbs; so 
when you see her climbing up higher, follow after 
with the other goats, for good food won’t hurt any 
of them; and if she wants to go beyond where you 
usually take your flock, be sure you do not 
call her back, but keep up with her for she 
knows more about it than you do, and a little lively 
climbing will give you a good appetite. She is to 
have the very best of food so that she will give 
extra fine milk. Why are you looking over there 
so fiercely as though you would like to bite some- 
body? There is no one there who will do you any 
harm. Now, forward, march! And remember 
what I told you.” 

The Uncle’s word was law to Peter, and he 
moved on at once, but it was plain to be seen that 
he had something on his mind, for after every few 
steps he turned to look back with fiercely rolling 
eyes. In their effort to follow him and yet keep 
close to Heidi the goats pushed the child along 
with them and so brought her nearer to Peter, 
which was just what he wanted. 

“You’ll have to come with us,” he called down 


364 


HEIDI 


into the throng with a threatening glance; “you’ll 
have to come with us, if we are to keep up with 
Swanli.” 

“No, I can’t,” Heidi called back. “It will be a 
long, long time before I can go with you again; 
not while Klara is here. But we will go up to- 
gether one day; grandfather has promised to take 
us.” 

So saying Heidi made her way out from among 
the goats and ran back to Klara. But Peter, on 
hearing it, shook both fists so savagely at the wheel- 
chair that the goats quickly jumped to one side. 
The boy was after them at once, and ran on for 
quite a distance without so much as looking back 
once; indeed, he did not look back until he was 
out of sight, for he feared the Alm-Uncle might 
have seen him, and he would rather not know what 
the old man thought of his fist-shaking. 

Klara and Heidi had so many plans for the day 
that they hardly knew what to do first. Heidi 
proposed that they write to the grandmamma first 
of all; for they had promised to send her a letter 
every day. When she had left Klara up on the 
Aim she had not felt at all certain that the child 
would be content to remain, or that the new mode 
of life would agree with her, and so she had made 
the children promise to write her how they spent 
each day, for in this way she not only learned how 


FURTHER EVENTS ON THE ATM 365 


her little granddaughter was faring, but could also 
tell when she was needed up there, and in the 
meantime could remain at her hotel in peace of 
mind. 

“Shall we have to go indoors to write?” asked 
Klara who was willing enough to give her grand- 
mamma the desired report, but felt so happy where 
she was that she did not want to go elsewhere. 

But Heidi knew how to manage. Running into 
the hut she soon returned laden with all her school 
materials and the little three-legged stool besides. 
Her reader and copybook she put into Klara’s lap 
that she might write on them, while she herself sat 
on the stool with the bench for a table, and soon 
both children were busily engaged in telling the 
grandmamma what had happened. But after 
every sentence Klara laid down her pencil to look 
around her awhile, for it was altogether too lovely 
to write. The breeze was no longer cool, but soft 
and caressing as it fanned her cheek and then was 
away to whisper among the branches of the old 
pine trees. Myriads of merry little insects danced 
and buzzed in the clear air, and far and near a 
deep stillness lay on the sunny land. The great 
peaks looked down in silent majesty on the wide 
valley at their feet, where peace and quiet reigned 
unbroken save for a herd boy’s merry yodle now 
and then, which the echoes caught and returned 


366 


HEIDI 


softly and more softly until it died away among 
the distant cliffs. 

The morning passed, the children hardly knew 
how, and here was the grandfather coming with 
his savory, steaming kettle ready for dinner. As 
yesterday, he had set the table in front of the hut. 
“For,” said he, “our little guest is to stay out of 
doors as long as there is a ray of light in the sky.” 
When the pleasant meal was ended, Heidi wheeled 
Klara’s chair into the shade of the pine trees, where 
the children had agreed to spend the afternoon 
telling each other all that had happened to them 
since their parting in Frankfort. Although noth- 
ing unusual had occurred, still Klara had much to 
tell about the people at home whom Heidi knew 
so well. 

So the children sat under the tall pine trees 
chatting gaily, and the more eagerly they talked, 
the louder sang the birds overhead, as though the 
feathered folk would gladly have joined in the 
merriment below. And thus, all unawares, the 
evening came, and with it the nimble-footed troop 
from up on the pasture. One and all came scam- 
pering down the mountain-side, their driver close 
behind them with a grim and forbidding look, and 
his forehead drawn together in a frown. 

“Good-night, Peter!” cried Heidi, when she saw 
that he did not mean to stop. And “Good-night, 


FURTHER EVENTS ON THE ALM 367 


Peter!” called Klara’s sweet voice after him as he 
rushed on after his goats without so much as turn- 
ing his head. 

As Klara watched the grandfather leading 
dainty little Swanli into the stable to be milked, 
she was seized with such a desire for the pleasant 
drink that she could hardly wait until it was 
brought her. She was quite surprised at herself. 

“Isn’t it curious, Heidi?” said she. “As long as 
I can remember I have eaten only because I knew 
I must; everything tasted of cod-liver oil, and 
many a time I have wished: ‘Oh if only I did not 
have to eat!’ And now I can hardly wait until 
your grandfather brings me the milk.” 

“Oh, I know what that is very well,” said Heidi 
with great understanding, for she remembered the 
days in Frankfort when everything she ate choked 
her and would not go down. But Klara still mar- 
velled; forgetting, however, that she had never be- 
fore spent the entire day out in the fresh air, and 
especially such pure and bracing air as that which 
she had breathed to-day. 

When the grandfather came with his two little 
howls, she took hers with an eager “Thank you,” 
and drained it so quickly that it was empty even 
before Heidi’s. 

“May I have a little more?” she asked, as she 
returned it. 


368 


HEIDI 


The old man nodded approvingly, and taking 
Heidi’s as well as hers, disappeared in the hut. 

When he returned, each little bowl was not only 
full, but had on it a thick cover of very different 
stuff than that of which covers are usually made. 

Early in the afternoon the grandfather had 
taken a walk to the herdsman’s hut in green and 
grassy Maiensass, where the richest and yellowest 
butter is made, and had brought a fine big ball of 
it home with him. Now he had cut two large 
slices of bread and spread them thickly with some 
of this delicious golden butter, and laying one on 
each little bowl gave them to the children for their 
supper. They both seized them at once and bit 
into them so eagerly that the old man stood still 
and watched them as they ate, for it pleased him. 

That night, when Klara had gone to bed intend- 
ing to look up at the twinkling stars for a while, 
she fared as Heidi did — her eyes closed before she 
was aware of it, and she slept until morning, more 
soundly than ever before in her life. 

In this happy way the next day passed, and the 
following one, but the third brought a great sur- 
prise to the children. As they were sitting in front 
of the hut they saw two strong carriers coming 
up the mountain, each with a heavy burden on his 
back, which proved to be a bed completely fitted 
out, from mattress to dainty white coverlet. One 
of the men brought a letter from the grandmamma. 


FURTHER EVENTS ON THE ALM 369 


telling the children that the two beds were for Klara 
and Heidi, and were to take the place of the couch 
of hay and shawls; that from this day forth Heidi 
was always to sleep in a regular bed, for one of 
them was to be taken down to Dorfli for the winter, 
while the other was to remain in the hay-loft, ready 
for Klara whenever she might come again. Then 
the grandmamma praised the children for writing 
her such long letters, and encouraged them to con- 
tinue their daily reports to her, so that she might 
know all they were doing, and so share their en- 
joyment just as though she were with them. 

Meanwhile the grandfather had gone to the loft 
and, after folding the shawls and blankets, he laid 
them aside, and tossed the hay that had served 
Heidi* as a couch on to the great heap at the other 
end of the loft. Then he went down to help the 
men carry the little twin-beds up the ladder. 
When they were both set up, he pushed them close 
together to a place where both the little occupants 
could look out of the round loophole to get a 
glimpse of the stars by night and of the first rays 
of the sun in the morning, for he knew what a de- 
light this was to the children. 

The grandmamma passed these days pleasantly 
at the hotel in Ragaz, much pleased at the good 
report she received daily from her little grand- 
daughter. 

Klara’s delight in her new mode of life grew 


370 


HEIDI 


with every day, and she could not say enough of 
the grandfather’s kindness and ever watchful care, 
nor of how merry and amusing Heidi was— even 
much more so than in Frankfort. Her first wak- 
ing thought, she told her grandmamma, was to 
thank God that she was still with her friends on 
the Aim. 

Every day the grandmamma rejoiced anew over 
the good news, and decided that since all was going 
so well she might put off her trip up the mountain 
a little longer, which she was not sorry to do, for 
she had found the ride up the steep ascent and 
down again rather trying after all. 

The grandfather must have taken a deep in- 
terest in his little charge, for hardly a day passed 
on which he did not think of something new by 
which she might gain more strength. Every after- 
noon now he climbed far up among the cliffs, and 
always returned with a big hunch of herbs that 
were sweet with an odor as of spicy cloves and 
thyme; indeed, so tempting was their fragrance 
that in the evening, when the goats returned from 
the pasture, they all stood on their hind legs and 
bleated in their eagerness to get into the stable 
where the grandfather had laid the herbs, for they 
knew the odor well. But the door was securely 
fastened, for the old man had not taken a hard 
long climb up the mountain for the sake of giving 


FURTHER EVENTS ON THE ALM 371 


the whole flock of goats a delicious meal without 
any trouble to themselves. The herbs were all for 
Swanli, that her milk might be even richer and 
more nourishing than usual. The pretty little 
creature showed how well she thrived under this 
special care, for she held her head so high, and her 
eyes were so bright that it was a pleasure to look 
at her. 

It was now nearly three weeks since Klara had 
come to visit her friends up on the mountain, and 
on the last few mornings when the grandfather 
had carried her down to seat her in her chair, he 
had asked each time: — 

“Will my little friend not try to stand for just a 
moment?” 

And to please him, Klara had always made the 
effort, although she had clung to him and cried 
out, ‘‘Oh, it hurts me so!” But each day he had 
let her rest her weight on her feet a little longer. 

Not for years had there been so charming a 
summer in the Alps. Each morning the sun rose 
in splendor and ran its course through a cloudless 
sky, while all the flowers opened their little cups 
wide to drink in its warmth, and in return put on 
their brightest hues, and shed their sweetest per- 
fume on the air; and when it set in the evening it 
threw a crimson glow on the tall cliffs, and tinged 
the great snow-field with softest pink, and then 
vanished in a sea of golden glory. 


372 


HEIDI 


Heidi never wearied of describing all this beauty 
to Klara, for only from the greater heights could 
it be seen in all its grandeur. And then with 
special ardor she would tell of her favorite spot up 
yonder, close to the high precipice, where at 
this season the shining golden rockroses grew in 
such abundance, and where the bluebells were so 
thick that it looked as though the grass had turned 
blue, while close beside them were great bunches 
of the flowers that looked like little brown heads 
and smelled so sweetly that when she was sitting be- 
side them she felt as though she never wanted to 
leave them. 

The children were sitting under the pine trees, 
and Heidi had just been telling Klara again of 
the lovely flowers and the beauty of the setting 
sun and gleaming cliffs, when such a longing to 
see it all seized her that she jumped up and ran 
to the shop where she saw her grandfather at his 
carving, and called out to him: — 

“Oh, grandfather, won’t you take us up to the 
pasture to-morrow? Oh, it is so lovely up there 
now !” 

“It’s a bargain,” was the grandfather’s reply, 
“if our little friend here will do me a favor in re- 
turn by trying very hard to stand awhile before 
she goes to bed this evening.” 

In great joy Heidi ran back to tell the good 


FURTHER EVENTS ON THE ALM 373 


news to Klara who gladly promised to try to stand 
just as often as the grandfather wished, for she 
was eager to take the long-desired trip to the 
beautiful pasture-lands. Heidi was so overjoyed 
at the delightful prospect that as soon as she saw 
Peter coming down the mountain with his goats, 
she ran to meet him shouting: “Peter! Peter! 
we are going up with you to-morrow to spend the 
day!’’ 

But the only reply that Peter made was to growl 
like an angry bear while he struck a vicious blow 
at the unoffending Goldfinch who happened to be 
the goat nearest him. But thanks to the little 
creature’s nimble feet, which carried him at one 
bound quite over Snowhopli’s back, he escaped the 
whip which whizzed harmlessly through the air. 

That night Klara and Heidi were filled with the 
most delightful anticipations as they climbed into 
their pretty little beds. So intent were they on the 
many plans for the morning that they decided to 
stay awake all night to talk about them. But 
hardly had their heads touched the soft pillows 
when their chatter suddenly ceased, and in her 
dreams Klara beheld a wide, wide field that was as 
blue as the sky with bluebells, and Heidi heard the 
eagle cry: “Come! come! come!” as he circled far 
overhead. 


CHAPTER XXII 


THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 

V ERY early the next morning the Aim-Uncle 
stepped out of his door to look around and see 
what sort of day it was going to be. 

All the highest peaks were flushed with a pink 
and golden light, while a fresh breeze gently 
swayed the great branches of the pine trees. 
Everywhere was the promise of the coming day. 

For a while the old man stood looking on in 
thoughtful silence as the light crept downward 
from the high peaks to the green mountain slopes 
and, driving the dark shadows before it, flooded 
the valley with a rosy shimmer, until at last peak 
and vale alike were bright with the morning’s 
golden light. The day had come. 

The Uncle now went into the shop and brought 
the wheel-chair out ready for the trip up the moun- 
tain; leaving it in front of the door he climbed up 
into the loft to wake the children and tell them 
what a beautiful day it was. 

Hardly had the Uncle disappeared in-doors 
when Peter came climbing up the mountain. His 
goats did not stay trustfully near him now as they 
used to, keeping either a little behind or in front 

374 


THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 375 


of him, or trotting along by his side as they jour- 
neyed up the mountain together; but instead, they 
kept at a shy distance, and now and then made 
quick leaps to one side or the other to escape 
Peter’s stick with which he struck out madly, and 
where it fell it left a smarting welt behind. Peter 
had reached the highest point of rage and bitter- 
ness, for he had not had Heidi to himself for weeks 
now. In the morning, when he passed by on his 
way up to the pasture, her grandfather was al- 
ways just bringing the strange girl down to seat 
her in her chair, and Heidi seemed to have eyes 
only for her; in the evening, when he returned, 
the chair with its occupant was standing under the 
pine trees, and Heidi was still engaged with the 
stranger. Not once during the whole summer had 
she gone to the pasture with him, and now that 
she was going to do so, the stranger in her chair 
was coming too, and all of Heidi’s time would be 
given to her. Peter foresaw it all, and it was this 
that so enraged him. 

Suddenly he caught sight of the chair standing 
there so haughtily, as he thought, on its four 
wheels, and he looked at it angrily as at an enemy 
who had done him an injury and would do him 
many more. He cast a cautious glance around; 
all was quiet and no one was in sight. Like a 
madman he rushed at the chair, seized it and 


376 


HEIDI 


pushed it with such angry force toward the slope 
of the mountain that it dashed downward and in a 
moment was out of sight. 

Then Peter ran after his goats as fast as his legs 
could carry him, never stopping to look around 
until he had reached a tall blackberry bush behind 
which he could conceal himself, for he did not wish 
to be seen by the Aim-Uncle. The fate of the 
chair was of great interest to him, however, and the 
blackberry bush was fortunately situated. By 
leaning forward from behind it he could look down 
the whole mountain slope, and should the Uncle 
appear at his door, Peter had only to draw back 
quickly to be entirely out of sight. He peered 
out from behind the bush, and what a sight met his 
eyes! Far below him the object of his hatred was 
rushing onward with ever increasing speed; now it 
turned a somersault, then another, and yet an- 
other; then, hurled high into the air, it was dashed 
to the ground again, and rolling over and over, 
sped on to certain destruction. Already it was 
going to pieces, for one after another, legs, arms 
and pieces of the cushions were being torn off and 
thrown high in air. 

The sight filled Peter with a fierce delight; he 
leaped high into the air and laughed aloud ; then he 
stamped on the ground for very joy, and finished 
by dancing around in a circle. Then he returned 


THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 377 


to the blackberry bush and took another glance 
down the mountain, after which there were re- 
newed shouts of laughter and more dancing. 
Peter was almost beside himself with joy at the 
destruction of his enemy, for he foresaw a whole 
train of pleasant consequences which must follow. 
In the first place the strange girl would have to 
go home since now there was no way of moving 
her about; this would leave Heidi alone again and 
she would go up to the pasture with him as before ; 
then she would give all her attention to him when 
he stopped at the hut on his way to or from the 
pasture, and so they would go back to all their 
pleasant old ways. But Peter forgot that every 
evid deed bears bitter fruit. 

Now he saw Heidi come jumping out of the hut 
and run to the shop; behind her came her grand- 
father carrying Klara. The shop door was wide 
open and the two boards had been taken down, so 
that the light fell full into every corner. Heidi 
looked everywhere, then ran round the corner, and 
came back with a look of consternation on her face. 
By this time her grandfather was at the door. 

“How is this, Heidi?” he asked. “Did you take 
the chair away?” 

“I am looking everywhere for it, grandfather. 
Didn’t you say that you had left it at the door?” 
said the child, still looking in every direction. 


378 


HEIDI 


Just then the wind, which had been growing 
stronger, rattled the shop door and suddenly threw 
it back against the wall with a hang. 

‘'Grandfather, the wind did it,” cried Heidi, and 
her eyes grew big at the thought of it. “Oh, 
grandfather, if the chair has been carried all the 
way down to Dorfli, it will take so long to get it 
back here that we can’t go up to the pasture at all 
to-day!” 

“If it has gone as far as that, it will never come 
back at all, for it will be in a thousand pieces,” said 
her grandfather, stepping round the corner and 
looking down the mountain side. “But it does 
seem strange,” he added, as he looked back at the 
distance the chair had to pass over in turning 
around the corner of the hut before it reached the 
descent. 

“Oh, that is too bad!” cried Klara; “now we 
cannot go, and perhaps I shall not get there at all, 
for I must go home if I have no chair. Oh, it is 
too bad, too bad !” 

But Heidi turned to her grandfather with a look 
of perfect confidence, and said: — 

“You can find some way, can’t you, grandfa- 
ther, so that it will not be as Klara says, and she 
will not have to go home?” 

“At present we will go up to the pasture as we 
had intended; afterward I will see what can be 


THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 379 


done/’ was the grandfather’s reply, and upon 
hearing it the children burst into a shout of de- 
light. 

Going into the hut he soon returned with an 
armful of shawls which he arranged in the sunniest 
place and then carefully seated Klara on them. 
Then he gave the children their breakfast of milk, 
after which he went to the stable to get Swanli 
and Bearli. 

‘T wonder why that fellow is so long in com- 
ing,” said the grandfather, half to himself, for 
Peter had not given his usual morning whistle. 

Taking Klara in one arm and the shawls in the 
other, the grandfather started on his way. 

“There, now forward,” said he; “the goats will 
follow us.” 

Nothing could have pleased Heidi better; put- 
ting one arm around Swanli’s neck and the other 
around Bearli’s she kept close behind her grand- 
father, while the goats almost crushed her between 
them in their loving effort to show their joy at 
having her go with them once more. 

As they came to the end of their journey they 
were surprised to see groups of goats here and 
there quietly grazing, while in their midst lay Peter 
stretched full length on the ground. 

“What does this mean, lazybones?” the Uncle 
called out to him. ‘Tf you pass us by again, you 


380 


HEIDI 


will get something that will help you to remember 
us!” 

At the sound of the familiar voice Peter sprang 
to his feet. 

“There was no one up,” was the reply. 

“Have you seen anything of the chair?” was the 
Uncle’s next question. 

“Of what chair?” asked Peter doggedly. 

The Uncle said no more* Finding a sunny spot 
that was sheltered from the wind by a great rock 
he spread out the shawls and seated Klara on them. 

‘P^s that comfortable?” he asked. 

“As comfortable as my chair,” she answered 
gratefully; “and here I am in the most beautiful 
place on earth. Oh, it is lovely, Heidi, lovely!” 
she exclaimed, looking all around. 

The grandfather laid the bag containing the 
children’s lunch in a shady place, and told Heidi 
to be sure to remember it at noon, and that Peter 
was to give them as much milk as they could drink, 
but Heidi was to make sure that he took it from 
Swanli. 

After telling the children to enjoy themselves 
and not to expect him until evening, as he was go- 
ing down the mountain to look for the chair, the 
grandfather bade them good-bye. 

The sky was deep blue with not a cloud to be 
seen; the great snow-field opposite glistened and 


THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 381 


shimmered as with a thousand stars of gold and 
silver; the tall gray cliffs held their heads aloft as 
they had in ages past, and gazed calmly down into 
the valley below; far overhead the eagle poised on 
outstretched wings, and from the greater heights 
a refreshing breeze swept down over the sunny 
slopes. 

The children were too happy to speak. Now 
and then one of the goats would come and lie down 
beside them to rest for a while; it was affectionate 
little Snowhopli who came oftenest to nestle against 
Heidi, and the pretty creature would probably 
have spent the greater part of the day there had 
not others of the flock come and driven her away. 
In this way Klara became so well acquainted with 
them all that she never mistook one for the other, 
for each had its own peculiar face and ways. 

They soon grew quite familiar with Klara and 
rubbed their heads against her shoulders, which 
was their way of saying that they knew and liked 
her. 

And so the hours slipped away; while thinking 
of the flowers Heidi was seized with a great de- 
side to climb a little farther up to where they grew 
so abundantly and see whether there were as many 
and as beautiful ones as there had been the sum- 
mer before. Not until evening, when her grand- 
father had come back, could there be any thought of 


382 


HEIDI 


going there with Klara, and then most of the 
flowers would have closed their little cups for the 
night. Heidi’s longing to see them grew so strong 
that she could resist it no longer. Turning to 
Klara she asked rather timidly: — 

“You will not be offended if I run off and leave 
you for a little while, will you, Klara? I should 
so like to see how the flowers look. But wait — ” 
she cried, for a happy thought had occurred to her. 
Running to one side, she pulled several handfuls 
of the sweet herbs that grew there and, as Snow- 
hopli came running toward her, she put one arm 
around the little creature’s neck and led her to 
where Klara was sitting. 

“There, now you will not be left alone after all, 
for here is Snowhopli,” said Heidi, as she gently 
pressed the goat down, which Snowhopli must have 
understood very well, for she nestled down at 
Klara’s side at once. The herbs that Heidi had 
gathered she threw into her friend’s lap; Klara 
was well pleased and said that she would quite en- 
joy staying alone with the little goat, for she had 
never before done anything like that, and she 
hoped Heidi would stay to look at the flowers just 
as long as it pleased her. 

So Heidi ran off and Klara began to feed Snow- 
hopli, holding out one leaf at a time, while the 
little creature grew more and more confiding, and 


THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 383 


nestled close to her new friend as she nibbled the 
leaves slowly from between her fingers. She 
showed very plainly that she enjoyed lying there 
so comfortably and under kind protection, for 
when she was out with the flock she had to endure 
many a hard knock from the larger and stronger 
goats. 

To Klara it seemed very delightful to be sitting 
far up among the mountains, all alone save for the 
helpless creature at her side, whose eyes looked so 
pleadingly up to her own. A great desire rose in 
the little girl’s heart to be able not only to take 
care of herself, but to help others as heretofore she 
had always been helped. And as she sat there, so 
many thoughts came to her — thoughts that she had 
never had before, and with them a desire to live 
on and on in the beautiful sunshine, and to do 
something that would give others pleasure, as she 
was now doing for little Snowhopli. A strange 
new gladness filled her heart, for it seemed as 
though all she had known before were going to be 
different and more beautiful than it had been, and 
she felt so well and happy that she caught Snow- 
hopli around the neck and cried: — • 

“Oh, Snowhopli, how lovely it is here! If I 
could only stay here with you always 1” 

Meanwhile Heidi had gone to her favorite place 
and greeted it with a cry of glad surprise, for the 


384 


HEIDI 


whole mountain slope before her seemed flooded 
with gleaming gold, so thickly grew the glistening 
yellow rockroses ; over them, great bunches of 
bluebells nodded in the breeze and the air was 
filled with a perfume as sweet as the costliest in- 
cense. It all came from the little brown flowers 
whose round heads could be seen here and there 
among the glistening cups of gold. Heidi stood 
and looked and drew in deep breaths of the fragrant 
air. Suddenly she turned and ran back to Klara 
with such speed that she was quite out of breath 
when she got there. 

‘‘Oh, you must come,” she cried in great excite- 
ment ; “they are so beautiful ! It is all so beautiful, 
and this evening it may not be as lovely as it is 
now! Perhaps I can carry you; don’t you think 
I could?” 

Klara looked at her excited little friend with 
some surprise; but she shook her head. “No, no,” 
she said. “How can you think of it? Why, you 
are much smaller than I am. Oh, if I could only 
walk!” 

A new idea must have come to Heidi, for her 
eyes were eagerly seeking something. Up yonder, 
where the children had first seen Peter stretched 
on the grass, he was now sitting looking down at 
them. There he had sat for hours staring at the 
two little girls below him as though he could not 


THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 385 


trust his eyes. Had he not destroyed the hateful 
chair that there might be an end of it all, and the 
strange girl be obliged to go home because she 
could not he moved about? And yet, only an hour 
later, here she was sitting on the grass beside 
Heidi. He could not understand it, and yet it 
must be so, for, look away as often as he would, 
every time his eyes returned to the spot, there she 
was. 

Heidi now looked up at him. 

“Come down here, Peter!” she ordered. 

“Won’t come,” Peter called at her. 

“But you must; come, I can’t do it alone and 
you must help me! Come quickly!” 

“Won’t come,” Peter replied again. 

Heidi now ran a little way up the slope toward 
the boy; then she stopped, and looking at him with 
flashing eyes, cried : — 

“Peter, if you don’t come down here right away, 
I will do something that will make you very sorry. 
You may depend on it!” 

These words gave Peter a sudden and painful 
feeling of alarm. A great anxiety seized him, for 
he had done a wicked deed which he wanted no 
one to know. So far he had felt only joy at the 
thought of it; but Heidi’s words made him fear 
that she knew all about it and would tell her grand- 
father, and of all persons in the world, the Aim- 


386 


HEIDI 


Uncle was the one he feared the most. If he 
should learn what had happened to the chair! 
Peter gasped at the thought of it. He rose and 
;went toward Heidi who was waiting for him. 

“I am coming; but then you mustn’t do what 
you said,” Peter begged, and looked so terrified 
that Heidi pitied him. 

“No, no, I will not do it,” she assured him. 
“But now come on; you needn’t be afraid of what 
I want you to do.” 

When they reached Klara, Heidi directed him 
to take her firmly by one arm while she herself 
took the other, and then they were to raise her to 
her feet. This went easily enough, but the next 
was more difficult. Klara could not even stand; 
how could they hold her and move her forward 
too? Besides Heidi was too short to support her 
with her arm. 

“Put one arm around my neck, very firmly — 
this way,” said Heidi; “and with the other take 
Peter’s arm and lean on it very hard. Then we 
can carry you.” 

But to give his arm to any one was something 
entirely new to Peter, and when Klara took it, he 
held it down against his side as stiff as a poker. 

“That isn’t the way, Peter,” said Heidi very 
decidedly. “You must make a ring with your 
arm — so ; then Klara must put hers through it, and 


THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 387 


bear her weight on it firmly, and you mustn’t let 
yours give way, no matter what happens; then I 
think we can move her along.” 

But although Heidi’s orders were carried out 
exactly, little progress was made. Klara was no 
light burden, and her carriers were so illy matched. 
On one side her support was low and on the other 
high, which gave her a very uncertain feeling. 

Klara tried her own feet a bit, putting out first 
one and then the other, but each time quickly drew 
them back again. 

“Try just once to set your foot down real hard,” 
suggested Heidi; “perhaps after that it will not 
hurt you so much.” 

“Do you think so?” asked Klara a little doubt- 
fully. But she followed Heidi’s advice and took 
one firm step, and then another, although each 
one forced a low cry of pain from her. Then she 
tried the other foot again, setting it down a little 
more softly. 

“Oh, it did not hurt so much this time,” she 
cried joyfully. 

“Try it again,” urged Heidi eagerly. 

Klara did so, once, twice and a third time. Sud- 
denly she exclaimed excitedly: — 

“I can, Heidi! Oh, I can! Look, look! I can 
take one step after another!” 

“Oh, oh! Can you really take steps yourself? 


888 


HEIDI 


Can you walk now? Can you really walk? Oh, 
if grandfather would only come! Now you can 
walk, Klara! You can walk, you can walk alone!” 
cried Heidi over and over again in the greatest joy. 

Although Klara leaned heavily on her support 
at either side, the three children could easily see 
that she grew more confident with every step. 
Heidi was almost beside herself with joy. 

“Now we can come up here every day and go 
where we like,” she cried again. “And you can 
walk as I do, as long as you live, and you will be 
well, and needn’t be wheeled about in a chair any 
more! Oh, this is the very best thing that could 
happen to us!” 

Klara agreed with her most heartily. There 
could certainly be no greater joy for her than to 
be well and able to go about like other people, in- 
stead of sitting all day long, a miserable prisoner 
in an invalid chair. 

It was not far to where the flowers grew. The 
shining golden rockroses were even now in sight, 
and soon the children were among the great bunches 
of bluebells between which the sun flecked ground 
looked so inviting. 

“Can’t we sit down here?” asked Klara. Heidi 
was very glad to do so, and the children sat down 
among the flowers, Klara sitting for the first time 
on the dry and sun-warmed ground. It was a 



Heidi was almost beside herself with joy 





rLi. 



THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 389 


great delight to her. All around her were the 
swaying bluebells, the shimmering rockroses, and 
the red blossoms of the centauries while the air was 
filled with the sweet perfume of the little brown- 
headed flowers and the fragrant prunelles. It was 
all so lovely — so lovely! 

Heidi, too, as she sat beside her, thought she had 
never before seen it so beautiful, and the child 
wondered at the great happiness that filled her heart 
and made her feel like shouting aloud for very joy. 
But then she remembered that Klara could walk 
and was going to be well, and that this great joy 
had been added to her delight in the loveliness 
around her. Klara grew quite silent with happi- 
ness at all the beauty she saw about her, and above 
all at the beautiful prospect opened to her by that 
which she had just succeeded in doing. It seemed 
almost too great a joy for her heart to hold, and 
together with the splendor of the sunshine and 
fragrance of the flowers quite overpowered her 
and made her speechless. 

Peter, too, had grown silent — he lay fast asleep 
on his bed of grass and flowers. Soft and low 
the balmy breeze blew from behind the sheltering 
rocks and whispered among the bushes overhead. 
Now and then Heidi jumped up and ran hither 
and thither to where the flowers grew more thickly, 
or their fragrance was stronger as it was wafted 


390 


HEIDI 


by the shifting breeze, and everywhere she must 
sit down awhile. 

So the hours passed unheeded. 

It was long past noon when a little troop of goats 
came walking sedately toward the flower-grown 
spot where the children sat. It was not one of 
their feeding places, for they did not like to graze 
among the flowers ; it was plain to be seen that this 
was a delegation headed by Goldfinch and sent out 
by the other goats to search for their human com- 
panions who had so shamefully deserted them and 
had far overstayed the usual hour, for the goats 
knew the time of day very well. When Gold- 
finch spied the three runaways among the flowers, 
he set up a joyful bleating in which he was in- 
stantly joined by all the others, then they all broke 
into a run and came trotting along, bleating noisily 
all the while. This waked Peter. He rubbed his 
eyes hard, for in his dreams he had just seen the 
wheel-chair with its handsome red leather cushions 
standing all unharmed before the hut, and even 
with his eyes half opened he had seen the shining 
brass nails around the cushions glitter in the sun. 
But now that he was wide awake he knew that it 
was only the glistening yellow rockroses at his 
elbow that he had seen. Again he was seized by 
the old fear from which he had felt so free at sight 
of the uninjured chair. Even though Heidi had 


THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 391 


promised not to tell of it, Peter still feared that 
her grandfather might discover the truth. His 
fear made him very docile and willing to do just 
as Heidi ordered. 

When the three got back to the pasture Heidi 
ran quickly to fetch the lunch bag and fulfill her 
promise to Peter, for her threat had been wholly 
in regard to its contents. She had seen all the 
good things with which her grandfather had filled 
it in the morning, and she had looked forward with 
pleasure to sharing them with Peter. But when 
he was so obstinate and ill-natured she intended 
to let him know that he would not get any of her 
lunch, which Peter’s evil conscience led him to mis- 
understand. 

Heidi now took one thing after another out of 
the bag and made three equal heaps which grew so 
large that she said to herself with great satisfac- 
tion: “Besides his own, he will get all that we 
can’t eat.” Then she carried one portion to each 
of her companions and, with her own in her lap, 
sat down beside Klara. The three children en- 
joyed their meal heartily, for the morning’s exer- 
tion had given them good appetites; nevertheless 
it happened as Heidi had foreseen; when the two 
girls were satisfied there was enough left to make 
another heap for Peter quite as large as his own 
share had been. Heidi gave it to him, and the 


392 


HEIDI 


boy ate on steadily and contentedly until every 
mouthful had disappeared, and then finished with 
the crumbs. But he did not eat with his usual 
keen enjoyment; with every mouthful something 
seemed to rise in his throat and choke him so that 
he could hardly swallow his food. 

It was so late when the children ate their dinner 
that they had hardly finished when they saw the 
grandfather coming up after them. Heidi rushed 
to meet him, for she wanted to be the first to 
tell him what had happened. But she was so ex- 
cited over the good news she had to tell that she 
could hardly find words in which to express it. 
But her grandfather understood at once what it 
was she wanted to say, and a look of great joy 
came into his face. He hurried on to where Klara 
was sitting and with a happy smile said : — 

“So you ventured and were successful, were 
you?” 

Then he raised the little girl to her feet, and 
putting his left arm around her, held his right one 
in front of her as a rest for her hand; with this 
strong support Klara stepped out much more 
courageously than she had in the morning. Heidi 
danced and skipped along by the side of her friend, 
and the grandfather’s face wore a look as though 
some great good fortune had come to him. Very 
soon he took Klara in his arms, and said: — 


THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 393 


‘Tt is best not to overdo; and besides it is time 
to go home.” 

Then he turned homeward at once, for he knew 
that Klara had done enough for one day, and needed 
rest. 

When late in the evening, Peter got down to 
Dorfli with his goats, he saw a crowd of people 
gathered about some object on the ground, which 
they were all so eager to see that they pushed and 
elbowed one another in trying to get nearer to it. 
Peter thought he must see what it was, and push- 
ing the people aside first with one elbow and then 
with the other, he worked his way to the front. 

Now he caught sight of it. 

There on the ground lay the seat of Klara’s 
chair with a piece of the back still hanging to it. 
The red leather cushions and shining brass nails 
were all that remained of its former splendor. 

‘T saw it when they were carrying it up,” said 
the baker who was standing beside Peter. “It 
was worth at least five hundred francs, I’ll wager. 
I wonder how it happened.” 

“The wind may have driven it down; the Alm- 
Uncle said so himself,” remarked Barbel who 
could not admire the pretty red cushions enough. 

“Well, I hope no person is to blame for it,” said 
the baker again; “he would have no easy time. 
When the gentleman from Frankfort hears of it. 


394 


HEIDI 


he will have some one look into it and find out how 
it came about. For my part, I am glad that it 
has been two years since I was up yonder, for any 
one who was up there may be suspected.” 

There was much more said, but Peter had heard 
enough. Very meekly and quietly he stole out of 
the crowd and then ran home as fast as his feet 
could carry him, just as though he feared some one 
were running after him to catch him. At the 
baker’s words a great fear had taken hold of him, 
for now he thought that at any moment an officer 
from Frankfort might come to look into the mat- 
ter, and then it might be discovered that he was the 
guilty one, then they would surely take him off to 
Frankfort and put him into prison. Peter’s ter- 
ror was so great that it made his hair stand on end. 

W^hen he reached home he looked very much 
disturbed and made no reply to what was said to 
him. At supper he refused his potatoes and soon 
crawled away to bed, where mother Brigitte heard 
him groaning in his sleep. 

“Peterli has been eating sorrel again,” she said; 
it must be a pain in his stomach that makes him 
groan so.” 

“You will have to give him more bread for his 
lunch; put in a piece of mine to-morrow,” said the 
grandmother, for she felt sorry for him. 

That evening, as the two little girls were look- 


THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 395 


ing up at the stars from where they lay in their 
comfortable beds, Heidi said - 

“Haven’t you been thinking all day, Klara, 
what a good thing it is that the dear God does not 
give us what we ask, no matter how hard we pray 
for it, when he knows that something else is better 
for us?” 

“What made you think of that, Heidi?” asked 
Klara. 

“Because, when I was in Frankfort, I prayed so 
hard that I might be allowed to go home right 
away, and when my prayer wasn’t answered at 
once, I thought the dear God had not heard it. 
But, don’t you see, if I had gone home right away, 
you would never have come up here, and then 
you couldn’t have been made well on the Aim.” 

Klara grew very thoughtful. 

“But, Heidi,” she began again; “if that is so, we 
need never pray at all, because the dear God al- 
ways knows what is good for us much better than 
we do ourselves.” 

“Oh, yes; but we mustn’t think that we need 
not pray,” said Heidi, growing very earnest; “we 
ought not to let a day pass by without asking the 
dear God for everything, everything, so that He 
may know that we do not forget that all we have 
comes from Him. For if we do not remember 
Him, He will not remember us either; the grand- 


396 


HEIDI 


mamma said so. But, you know, when we do not 
get what we ask for, we mustn’t think that the 
dear God hasn’t heard us, but we must say to 
Him: ‘Now I am sure, dear God, that you know 
of something much better for me, and so I will be 
happy because I know that it will all be for the 
best.’ ” 

“How did you come to think of all this, Heidi?” 
asked Klara. 

“First the grandmamma told me about it, and 
then it happened just as she said, and now I know 
it. But I think, Klara,” continued Heidi, sitting 
up in bed, “that to-night we ought to thank the 
dear God more than ever, because He has made 
us so happy to-day; for now you can walk, Klara.” 

“Yes, indeed, Heidi; you are quite right, and I 
am glad that you reminded me of it, for I was so 
happy that I almost forgot it.” 

Then the two children folded their hands and 
thanked their heavenly Father, each in her own 
way, for the precious gift He had that day be- 
stowed on Klara who had so long been a patient 
suff erer. 

The next morning the grandfather said to the 
children that he thought it was time to ask the 
grandmamma to come to see them, as they had 
something to show her. But the children had a 
different plan; they wanted to give the grand- 


THE UNEXPECTED HAPPENS 397 


mamma a great surprise. Klara must first learn 
to use her feet a little better so that she would be 
able to walk a short distance with no other support 
than Heidi’s arm; but no hint qf this must reach 
the grandmamma. 

The grandfather was now eagerly consulted as 
to how soon that might be, and when he said in 
about a week, the children sat down and wrote the 
grandmamma an urgent invitation to come to see 
them at that time; but not a word did they say 
about anything new that they had to show her. 

The next few days were some of the most de- 
lightful of Klara’s visit to the mountains. Every 
morning she awoke with the glad thought: ‘T am 
well! I am well! I need not sit in the wheel- 
chair any longer, but can walk about like other 
people.” 

Then came the exercise in walking, and with 
each day that passed she found it easier, and she 
could walk farther. The unusual exercise gave 
her such an appetite that the grandfather’s already 
generous slices of bread and butter grew larger 
and larger, and it was with a feeling of great satis- 
faction that he stood by and saw them disappear. 
He now always brought out a large pitcher of 
foaming milk, too, and filled bowl after bowl for 
the children. 

Thus the end of the week soon came, and with it 
the day which was to bring the grandmamma. 


CHAPTER XXIII 


A FAREWELL, BUT TO MEET AGAIN 

T he day before her intended visit the grand- 
mamma sent the children a letter telling them 
just when to expect her. This letter Peter 
brought with him early the next morning on 
his way to the pasture. The grandfather and the 
children were already out of doors, as also were 
Swanli and Bearli, tossing their heads playfully 
and sniffing the fresh morning air, while the chil- 
dren stroked their glossy coats and wished them a 
pleasant trip up to the pasture. The grandfather 
stood looking first at the rosy faces of the children 
and then at the sleek little creatures standing near, 
and both must have pleased him well, for he smiled 
down contentedly at them. 

Peter now came along. When he saw the little 
group before the door, his steps lagged and he 
held the letter out to the grandfather from afar; 
as soon as it had left his hand he jumped back as 
though something had frightened him; then he cast 
a timid glance behind him as though expecting to 
see something there that he dreaded; then, with a 
leap, he was off up the mountain. 

“Grandfather,” said Heidi, who had been watch- 

398 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 399 


ing Peter with a puzzled look on her face, ‘‘grand- 
father, why does Peter act so strangely? He 
makes me think of the big Turk when he sees a 
stick threatening him, and shies off, and tosses his 
head and makes leaps into the air/’ 

“Perhaps Peter sees a stick that is threatening 
him, and one that he richly deserves, too,” was the 
grandfather’s reply. 

It was only to just beyond the first turn that 
Peter ran so quickly: as soon as he was sure that 
he was out of sight he stopped and looked 
anxiously in every direction. Suddenly he gave a 
quick leap forward, at the same time casting a shy 
glance behind him as though he had felt a hand on 
his collar. From behind every bush and rock 
Peter expected to see the officer from Frankfort 
rush out and seize him. The longer this state of 
anxious expectancy lasted, the greater grew 
Peter’s terror, until at last he had not a moment’s 
peace. 

When Peter had gone Heidi went indoors to set 
her house in order, that the grandmamma might 
find everything neat and tidy. To see Heidi so 
busy with her household duties, bustling into every 
nook and corner of the hut, was so amusing to 
Klara that she always liked to watch her. 

In this way the first hours of the morning passed 
before the children were aware of it, and now the 


400 


HEIDI 


grandmamma might appear at almost any moment. 
Klara and Heidi were quite ready to receive her 
and went out in front of the hut, where they sat 
down side by side on the bench and waited in eager 
expectation. They were soon joined by the grand- 
father who had been out for a walk and had 
brought back with him a great bunch of deep blue 
gentians that looked so lovely in the bright sun- 
shine that the children both exclaimed with delight 
at the sight of them. The grandfather took the 
flowers into the house. Again and again Heidi 
jumped up and ran to where she could look down 
the mountain to see whether the grandmamma 
were yet in sight. 

At last she saw coming up the steep path just 
what she had expected. First came the guide, 
then the white horse with the grandmamma on his 
back, and last of all a man carrying a huge bundle 
of wraps, for the grandmamma would risk no trip 
up the mountain without ample protection against 
the weather. 

Nearer and nearer they came; now they were 
before the hut, and the grandmamma saw the 
children from her seat on the horse. 

“What is this? Why, Klara, my child, you are 
not in your chair! What does it mean?” she cried 
in alarm as she dismounted hastily. But before 
she had taken a step she clasped her hands in 
wonder, and exclaimed excitedly: — • 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 401 


‘‘But can this really be my little Klara? Why, 
child, your cheeks are round and rosy as an apple! 
I hardly know you, my dear!” 

Now the grandmamma rushed to clasp Klara in 
her arms, hut before she could reach her, Heidi 
had slipped to her feet and was quickly followed 
by Klara who rested one arm on her little friend’s 
shoulder; then the two walked calmly off together 
as though setting out for a stroll. The grand- 
mamma could not move from the spot, so fright- 
ened was she, for she could not think otherwise 
than that Heidi was undertaking something very 
reckless. 

But what was this she saw? 

Erect and sure-footed, Klara was walking be- 
side Heidi; now the two turned and came back, 
their faces beaming, their cheeks red with excite- 
ment. 

Then the grandmamma rushed toward them, 
and between smiles and tears, kissed first Klara, 
then Heidi, and then Klara again. So great was 
her joy that she found no words to express it. 

Suddenly her eyes fell on the Alm-Uncle stand- 
ing beside the bench and looking down with a 
happy smile at the group before him. Slipping 
her arm through Klara’s, and holding it firmly in 
her own, she walked with her to the bench, ex- 
claiming over and over again in great joy that 


402 


HEIDI 


the child was really walking. When Klara was 
seated, the grandmamma turned and grasped both 
the old man’s hands. 

“My dear Uncle! My dear Uncle! For how 
much we have to thank you! We owe all this to 
you — ^to your care and nursing” — 

“And to our dear Lord’s sunshine and pure 
mountain air,” interrupted the grandfather with a 
smile. 

“Yes, and surely to Swanli’s nice rich milk, 
too,” called out Klara. “Grandmamma, you have 
no idea how much goat’s milk I can drink, and 
how good it is!” 

“Your cheeks speak for you, my dear,” said the 
grandmamma laughingly. “Really, I should 
hardly know you ! And you are round and plump 
as I had never supposed you could be! You have 
grown tall, too, Klara. It hardly seems possible! 
I can’t look at you enough! But now we must 
send a telegram to your father in Paris; he must 
come at once. I will not tell him why; it will be 
the happiest surprise of his life. My dear Uncle, 
how can we manage it? The guides have gone, 
haven’t they?” 

“Yes, they are gone,” replied the Uncle; “but if 
you are in a hurry we will send the goatherd down 
with it. He has time enough.” 

The grandmamma thought that the joyful news 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 403 


ought not to be kept from her son for a single, day, 
and so the message should be sent at once. 

The Uncle went to the other side of the hut and 
with his fingers to his lips gave so shrill a whistle 
that it waked the far-away echoes and was repeated 
in the cliffs above. In a very short time Peter 
was seen running down the mountain, for he knew 
the Uncle’s call well. He was as white as chalk, 
for he felt sure that the Uncle had called him down 
to be arrested by the officer from Frankfort. In- 
stead, a very harmless looking piece of paper on 
which the grandmamma had written something 
was handed to him, and the Uncle told him to take 
it to the post-office in Dorfli, and say that he him- 
self would pay for it later; for it was not safe to 
give Peter too much to attend to at once. 

Greatly relieved, the boy went off with the 
grandmamma’s message in his hand; he felt that 
he had escaped for the present, as the Uncle had 
not called him down to be arrested, and there was 
no terrible officer in sight. 

Now the little company in front of the hut could 
at last gather quietly about the table. The grand- 
mamma wanted to hear the whole story from be- 
ginning to end; how the grandfather had first 
persuaded Klara to stand a while each day, and 
then encouraged her to take a step or two ; how the 
trip to the pasture had been planned, and the chair 


404 


HEIDI 


had been carried off by the wind; how Klara’s 
desire to see the flowers had induced her to take 
her first walk, and how one thing had thus led to 
another. It took the children a long time to tell 
it all, for they were interrupted again and again 
by the grandmamma’s exclamations of wonder, 
praise and thankfulness, such as: “Is it possible! 
You are sure it isn’t all a dream! And are we 
really all awake and sitting together in front of 
the hut? And is this girl with the round and rosy 
cheeks really my pale and weak little Klara of 
old?” 

The children’s joy knew no bounds when they 
found how successful their well-planned surprise 
had been, and that it was not over even yet. 

Meanwhile Herr Sesemann had attended to his 
business in Paris and had planned a little surprise 
of his own. Without sending his mother word, 
he took the train one fine and sunny morning and 
rode as far as Basle, where he remained over night. 
Very early the next morning he continued his 
journey, for he had been seized by a great longing 
to see the little daughter from whom he had been 
separated the whole summer. When he arrived at 
the hotel in Ragaz he was told that his mother had 
just gone on her trip up the mountain, which was 
most welcome news to him. He took a carriage 
at once and drove as far as Mayenfeld, where he 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 405 


learned that he could drive pn to Dorfli; this he 
was very glad to do, as he thought that the climb 
up the mountain would be quite exertion enough 
for him. 

In this Herr Sesemann had made no mistake, for 
he found the unbroken climb upward both long 
and wearisome. Again and again he looked for 
the goatherd’s hut which he knew he would find 
about halfway up, for the path had so often been 
described to him; but it was nowhere to he seen. 

Signs of recent travel were plentiful enough, 
and in places there were a number of footpaths 
leading in different directions. Herr Sesemann 
began to wonder whether he were on the right road, 
or whether the hut might not he on the other side 
of the mountain. He looked about him in the 
hope of seeing some person who could direct him; 
but nowhere was any one to be seen, nor a sound 
to be heard, save the sighing of the wind as it swept 
the mountain, the buzz of the little flies that danced 
in the sunshine, and the merry voice of a bird that 
whistled among the branches of a lonely larch. 
Herr Sesemann stood still and let the mountain 
breeze fan his hot forehead. 

Suddenly he heard some one come running down 
the mountain. It was Peter with the despatch in 
his hand; he was not following the path on which 
Herr Sesemann was standing, but came running 


406 


HEIDI 


straight down the mountain side. As soon as he 
had come near enough Herr Sesemann beckoned 
to him. Slowly and with a terrified air, Peter 
approached, but with a sideling step, putting for- 
ward one foot and dragging the other after it. 

“Well, my boy, step up like a man,” said Herr 
Sesemann to encourage him. “Now tell me, will 
this path take me up to the hut where the old man 
and the little girl, Heidi, live, and where the people 
from Frankfort are staying?” 

A dull sound of unspeakable terror was the only 
reply, and Peter dashed off at such speed that he 
shot head over heels down the steep slope, and then 
rolled over and over, very much as the wheel-chair 
had done, with this difference, that fortunately 
Peter did not go to pieces as had been the case 
with the chair. 

But the despatch fared badly, and was carried 
off in pieces by the wind. 

“What a strangely bashful mountain boy!” 
remarked Herr Sesemann to himself, for he be- 
lieved that the mere sight of a stranger had had 
this surprising effect on the simple-minded son of 
the Alps. 

After watching Peter’s swift and violent trip 
downward for a while, Herr Sesemann continued 
on his way. 

In spite of all his efforts Peter could get no hold 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 407 


anywhere, but rolled on and on, every now and 
then adding to his speed by a wonderfully-turned 
somersault. But this was by no means the most 
painful part of his suffering just at this moment; 
much more frightful were the dread and terror 
which filled him, now that he felt sure that the 
officer from Frankfort had really arrived. For 
this stranger who had inquired for the people from 
Frankfort must be he, of this Peter had no doubt. 
At the last steep descent, just above Dorfli, Peter 
was rolled against a bush, where he at last suc- 
ceeded in getting a hold. A moment he lay there, 
trying to think what had happened to him. 

“Well, well, here comes another! And who will 
be the next to get a push up yonder and come 
rolling down like a badly-sewed potato sack?” 

It was the baker who was amusing himself with 
this jest. He had come up here to get a little air 
after his hot day’s work, and had been quietly 
watching Peter as the boy came rolling down the 
mountain, very much as the chair had done only a 
short time before. 

Peter jumped to his feet. A new fear had 
seized him. Evidently the baker knew that the 
chair had been sent down by a push from up yon- 
der. Without once turning to look back Peter 
ran up the mountain again. 

He would have liked best of all to go home and 


408 


HEIDI 


hide himself in bed where no one could find him, 
for that was where he felt safest. But the goats 
were still up on the pasture, and the Alm-Uncle 
had told him to be sure to come back soon so that 
the fiock would not be left alone too long. Peter 
was more afraid of the Uncle than of any one else, 
and so great was his respect for him that he never 
would have dared disobey him. So he groaned 
aloud and limped on, for there was no choice; he 
was obliged to go up again. But he could run no 
longer, for his great fear and all the hard knocks 
he had just received had not failed to affect him. 
On he went up to the Aim, groaning and limping. 

Very soon after meeting Peter, Herr Sesemann 
had come upon the goatherd’s cottage, and so felt 
assured that he was on the right road. With re- 
newed courage he toiled on, and at last, after a 
long and weary climb, beheld his goal just ahead 
of him. There stood the Aim-hut, and above it 
were the swaying branches of the old pine trees. 

Joyfully Herr Sesemann began the last ascent, 
for it would now be but a few minutes before he 
would give his little girl a glad surprise. But he 
had already been seen and recognized by the little 
party in front of the hut, and they immediately 
planned something for him which he little 
expected. 

When he had taken the last step up, two of the 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 409 


little company rose and came to meet him ; one was 
little Heidi whose black eyes were bright with 
happiness; the other was a taller girl with golden 
hair and a rosy face, and she rested one arm on 
Heidi’s shoulder as she walked. Herr Sesemann 
started; then he stood still and stared at the ap- 
proaching children. Suddenly the tears rushed to 
his eyes, for memories both sweet and painful rose 
within him. Just so had Klara’s mother looked — ^ 
a blond young girl with cheeks of softest pink. 
Herr Sesemann wondered whether he were waking 
or dreaming. 

“Papa, don’t you know me?” Klara now called 
out to him with a face radiant with happiness. 
“Have I changed so much?” 

Then Herr Sesemann rushed toward his 
daughter and clasped her in his arms. 

“Indeed, you are changed! Is it possible? Can 
it be really true?” 

And the overjoyed father stepped back a pace 
that he might look at her again and assure himself 
that what he saw would not vanish before his eyes. 

“Is it really you, my little Klara?” he exclaimed 
over and over. Then he took the child in his arms 
again, after which he had to look at her once more 
to be sure that it was really his little daughter who 
stood there so straight before him. 

The grandmamma now joined them, for she 


410 


HEIDI 


could wait no longer to see her son’s happy face. 

“Well, my dear boy, what do you think of this?” 
she called out to him. “The surprise you gave us 
was delightful, but the one we had in store for you 
was much more so, was it not?” and the happy 
mother gave her son a most loving greeting. 

“But now, my dear,” she continued, “you must 
come with me to where you see our Aim-Uncle 
over there; he is our greatest benefactor.” 

“Certainly; and Klara’s little playmate, our 
little Heidi here, must have a hearty greeting, too,” 
said Herr Sesemann, as he shook Heidi’s hand. 

“Well, my child, and are you always bright and 
well up here on the Aim? But that is a needless 
question, for no Alpine rose could look more fresh 
and blooming. It is a joy to me, a great joy, to 
see you so, my child.” 

Heidi’s face, too, was aglow with happiness as 
she looked up at the kind friend who had always 
been so good to her. That he should find so great 
^ joy hore on her dearly loved Aim made her 
heart beat high with happiness. 

The grandmamma now took her son over to the 
Alm-Uncle, and while the two men gave each other 
a cordial grasp of the hand, and Herr Sesemann 
began to express his deep gratitude and unbounded 
astonishment at what seemed a perfect miracle to 
him, the grandmamma went on a little way, for 



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A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 411 


she had already said all this, and she wanted to 
look at the old pine trees again. 

Here another surprise awaited her. Just under 
the trees, where the long branches had left an open 
place, stood a great bunch of the loveliest deep blue 
gentians, as fresh and bright as though they were 
growing there. The grandmamma clasped her 
hands in delight. 

‘‘How lovely! How exquisite! What a 
charming sight!” she exclaimed again and again. 
“Heidi, my dear child, come over here! Did you 
do this to please me? They are perfectly beauti- 
ful!” 

The children were there in a moment. 

“No, no; it really wasn’t I,” said Heidi. “But 
I know who did it.” 

“That is the way they look up on the pasture, 
grandmamma, only much lovelier,” Klara here in- 
terrupted. “But you must guess who brought the 
flowers down from the pasture for you early this 
morning,” and Klara smiled so happily as she 
spoke that for a moment the grandmamma thought 
perhaps the child herself had been up there this 
morning. But that was hardly possible. 

A slight noise just behind the pine trees was 
now heard. It was Peter, who meanwhile had 
climbed back up the mountain as far as this. But 
on seeing the stranger with the Uncle, he had gone 


412 


HEIDI 


a long way round, with the intention of stealing 
quietly away behind the great trees. But the 
grandmamma had recognized him, and a sudden 
thought came to her. Perhaps Peter had picked 
the flowers for her, and was now slipping off so 
quietly because he was too bashful and modest to 
come forward. She could not let him go away 
without some little reward for his thoughtfulness. 

“Come, my boy, step up bravely, and do not be 
afraid!” the grandmamma called out to him as she 
peered in among the branches. 

Rigid with fear, Peter stood motionless. After 
all he had suffered he had no strength left with 
which to resist. He had only one thought: “Now 
it’s all over!” Every hair on his head stood on 
end; and with a face pale and drawn with fear he 
stepped out from behind the pine trees. 

“Come, step up briskly! Don’t hang back so!” 
said the grandmamma to encourage him. “Now 
tell me, did you do that?” 

Peter dared not raise his eyes from the ground, 
and so did not see where the grandmamma’s finger 
was pointing. He had seen the Uncle standing 
at the corner of the hut, and had noticed that the 
old man’s gray eyes were fixed steadily on him; 
and beside the Uncle stood that most terrible of all 
persons, the officer from Frankfort. Trembling 
in every limb, Peter brought forth a single sound; 
it was “Yes.” 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 413 


“Well, well, what is there so terrible about it?” 

“That it — that it — that it went to pieces and 
can’t be put together again,” Peter stammered out 
with a great effort, while his knees shook so that 
he could hardly stand. 

The grandmamma turned and went toward the 
hut. 

“My dear Uncle, is the poor boy really crazy?” 
she asked with ready sympathy. 

“Not at all; not at all,” the Uncle assured her. 
“It is only this : the boy was the wind that carried 
the wheel-chair down the mountain, and now he 
expects his well-deserved punishment.” 

The grandmamma could hardly believe it, for 
she thought the boy did not look at all malicious, 
and he could have no reason for wishing to destroy 
the much-needed chair. 

But Peter’s confession had only convinced the 
Uncle of what he had suspected very soon after 
the supposed accident. The fierce glances that 
Peter had always cast at Klara, as well as other 
evidences of the dislike with which he regarded the 
visitor at the Aim-hut, had not escaped the Uncle. 
Putting one thing with another, he had guessed 
just what had occurred, and now explained it all 
very clearly to the grandmamma. The kind lady 
grew quite excited over it, and when he had 
finished exclaimed: — ^ 


414 


HEIDI 


“No, no, my dear Uncle; the poor boy must not 
be punished still further. We must be just. 
Here come all these strangers from Frankfort, 
and for weeks at a time deprive him of Heidi, his 
only joy — and a very great joy she is, too — while 
day after day he sits alone in his disappointment. 
No, no; we must be just; his anger got the better 
of him, and drove him to a revenge that was very 
foolish. But who is not foolish when he is angry?” 

Whereupon the grandmamma hurried back to 
Peter who was still trembling and shaking. She 
sat down on the bench that stood under the pine 
trees, and said kindly: — 

“Now come, my boy, come stand here beside me. 
I have something to say to you. Stop shaking 
and trembling, and listen to me. You pushed the 
wheel-chair down the mountain so that it should 
go to pieces. That was very wicked, and you 
knew it very well; you deserve a severe punish- 
ment for it, and that you know also; to escape it 
you have been put to great pains so that no one 
should find out what you have done. But you see, 
when a person does something wrong and thinks 
that nobody knows it, he makes a great mistake. 
The dear God in heaven sees and knows every- 
thing, and when he knows that some one is trying 
to keep a wicked deed to himself, he quickly wakes 
the little watchman that is put into every one at his 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 415 


birth, and who sleeps until the person within whose 
breast he is hidden does something wrong. This 
little watchman has a sharp stick with which he 
pricks and pricks the wrong-doer until he has not a 
moment’s peace. And he has a voice, too, with 
which he torments the guilty one by calling over 
and over: ‘Now it will all be found out! Now 
they are coming to get you and punish you 1’ And 
so the evil-doer lives in constant terror, and is 
never happy, never. Is not that the way it has 
been with you lately, Peter?” 

Peter nodded in a most downcast way, but also 
with the air of one who knows, for this had been 
his experience exactly. 

“And you made still another mistake,” con- 
tinued the grandmamma; “for see how your evil 
deed helped the one you intended to harm by it. 
Because Klara had no chair in which to be wheeled 
to the place where grew the pretty flowers she 
wanted to see, she tried very hard to use her feet 
to get there, and so she learned to walk; and since 
then she walks better and better with each day, so 
that if she stays long enough she may be able to 
go to the pasture on every flne day, much oftener 
than she could have been wheeled there in her 
chair. And so, you see, Peter, how the dear Lord 
can take an evil deed and turn it into good for the 
one whom it was meant to injure, while the evil- 


416 


HEIDI 


doer has all the unhappiness and disappointment. 
Now do you understand it well, Peter? And will 
you think of it whenever you want to do something 
wicked? And will you remember about the little 
watchman within you who will trouble you with 
his voice and prick you with his sharp stick? Will 
you remember that, Peter?” 

“Yes, I will,” answered the boy, still very down- 
hearted, for as yet he did not know how it would 
all end; for there stood the officer from Frankfort 
still talking to the Uncle. 

“Very well, then we are through with the mat- 
ter,” said the grandmamma in conclusion. “And 
now you shall have something that you like by 
which to remember the people from Frankfort. 
So tell me, my boy, is there anything that you have 
wished for — something that you would like to have? 
What was it? What would you like best?” 

On hearing this, Peter raised his head and stared 
at the grandmamma with eyes grown round with 
wonder. He had still been expecting some fright- 
ful punishment, when suddenly he was told that he 
was to get something he liked very much. The 
boy did not know what to make of it. 

“Yes, yes, I mean what I say,” said the grand- 
mamma; “you shall have something you like by 
which to remember the people from Frankfort, and 
to show you that they have forgotten the wrong 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 417 


you did them. Do you understand me now, my 
boy?” 

It began to dawn on Peter that he was not to be 
punished at all, and that the good lady sitting 
there before him had rescued him from the much- 
dreaded officer. He felt a sudden and great relief, 
as though a heavy stone that had lain on him and 
threatened to crush him had been rolled away. 
But by this time he had also discovered that it is 
best to confess at once the wrong one has done, and 
so he said : — 

“And I lost the paper, too.” 

The grandmamma had to think for a moment 
before she understood what he meant; then she said 
very kindly: — 

“That is right; I am glad you told me. Always 
tell what is wrong, and then it will soon be righted. 
And what is it that you would like to have?” 

Now Peter was to have his dearest earthly wish 
granted. He grew quite dizzy at the thought of it. 
There rose before him all the beautiful things that 
he had so often seen at the yearly fair at Mayen- 
feld, and which he had longed for, knowing, how- 
ever, that they were far beyond him, for they all 
cost ten pfennigs, and never in all his life had 
Peter had more than half of that sum at a time. 
There were the pretty red whistles which he would 
find so useful in calling the goats. Then there 


I 


418 


HEIDI 


were the much-desired knives with round handles; 
they were called toad-stickers, and quicker work 
could be done with them in a hazel-hedge than with 
any other. 

Peter stood lost in deep thought, for he could 
not decide which of the two to choose. Suddenly 
a happy thought came to him by which he could 
put off the decision until the time of the next fair. 

“Ten pfennigs,” he said with great firmness. 

The grandmamma laughed. 

“That is not over much. Well, come here.” 

She drew forth her purse, and took out a large 
round thaler, on which she laid two ten-pfennig 
pieces. 

“There, we will make a straight reckoning,” she 
continued, “and I will explain it to you. Here are 
just ten pfennigs for every week in the year; so on 
each Sunday of the whole year you can take ten 
pfennigs to spend during the week.” 

“As long as I live?” asked Peter quite inno- 
cently. 

At that the grandmamma laughed so heartily 
that her son and the Uncle stopped talking to hear 
what was going on over there that was so amusing. 

The grandmamma was still laughing. 

“You shall have it, my hoy,” she said at last. 
“I will add it to my will. Did you hear that, my 
son? And afterward you must put it into yours. 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 419 


It shall read: ‘Ten pfennigs a week to Goat-Peter 
during his lifetime/ ’’ 

Herr Sesemann laughed, too, as he nodded 
assent. 

Peter looked down again at the gift he held in 
his hand to assure himself that it was really there. 
Then he said: — 

“God be thanked!” 

Whereupon he ran off with most unusually long 
leaps; but this time he did not slip and fall, for it 
was not fear that was driving him; he was run- 
ning because he was happier than he had ever been 
before in all his life. All his fear and anxiety were 
over, and he was to have ten pfennigs every week 
of his life. 

A little later, when the happy party gathered 
around the table in front of the hut had finished 
their dinner, and were still sitting together talking 
about a number of things, Klara turned to her 
father whose face was beaming with delight and 
wore a little happier smile with each time he looked 
at her; taking his hand in hers, she said with an 
eagerness that sounded little like the old listless 
Klara : — 

“Oh, papa, if you only knew all that the grand- 
father has done for me! So much every day that 
I shall never be able to tell it all ; but 1 11 not forget 
it as long as I live. . And I am always thinking if 


420 


HEIDI 


there were only something I could do for the dear 
good grandfather ; or if I could give him something 
that he would enjoy, even though I could never 
give him half the happiness he has given me.’’ 

“That is just what I wish more than anything 
else, my dear child,” said her father. “Constantly 
I have been trying to think of some way by which 
we can show our gratitude to our benefactor, even 
to a slight degree.” 

Herr Sesemann rose and went over to where the 
Aim-Uncle was sitting beside the grandmamma 
with whom he had been carrying on a most lively 
conversation. He too, rose now, and Herr Sese- 
mann grasped his hand as he said in a most cordial 
manner : — 

“My dear friend, let us have a word together. 
You will understand me when I tell you that for 
many a long year I have not been truly happy. 
What were all my wealth and prosperity to me 
when I looked at my poor child whom no amount 
of money could make well or happy? Next to our 
Father in heaven I have you to thank for the 
child’s recovery, and for the great joy that has 
come into my life as well as hers. Now tell me, is 
there no way in which I can show my gratitude? 
What you have done for us can never be repaid; 
but all that it is in my power to do, I place at your 
command. Tell me, my friend, what you will let 
me do for you?” 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 421 


The Uncle’s face wore a pleasant smile as he 
listened in silence to all the happy father said. 

“Herr Sesemann will believe me when I tell him 
that the wonderful recovery up here on our Aim 
has given me great happiness also; all that I have 
done has been fully repaid by it,” the Uncle now 
said with his usual firmness. “I thank you for 
your kind intentions, Herr Sesemann, but there is 
nothing that I need. As long as I live the child 
and I will have enough. But I have one wish; if 
it were fulfilled I should be free from anxiety for 
the rest of my days.” 

“Let me hear it, my friend; let me hear it!” Herr 
Sesemann urged. 

“I am growing old,” continued the grandfather, 
“and shall not be here much longer. When I go, 
I can leave Heidi nothing, and she has no relations ; 
that is, only one, who, I fear, would try to make 
profit out of her. If you would give me the assur- 
ance, Herr Sesemann, that Heidi will never have 
to go out into the world to earn her living among 
strangers, you will have repaid me fully for all 
that I have done for you and your child.” 

“But my dear friend, there could never be any 
danger of that,” Herr Sesemann now broke forth; 
“the child belongs to us. Ask my mother, ask 
Klara; never, as long as they live, will they give 
little Heidi up to any one else. But if it will ease 


422 


HEIDI 


your mind, my friend, here is my hand on it; I 
promise you that never in all her life shall the child 
be obliged to go among strangers to earn a living. 
I will arrange matters so that she will be provided 
for even beyond my lifetime. But there is some- 
thing more I have to say. The child’s nature is 
such that whatever the circumstances, she would 
never be happy away from home; we have seen 
that. But she has made friends. I know of one 
who at present is still in Frankfort ; but he is wind- 
ing up his affairs with the intention of spending 
the rest of his days quietly in the place of his 
choice. It is my friend, the doctor, who will be 
here some time during the coming autumn to ask 
your advice with regard to settling in this neigh- 
borhood, for he was happier here in your company 
and that of the child than anywhere else. So you 
see, Heidi will soon have two protectors here to 
watch over her. May they both be spared to her 
for many a year!” 

‘‘God grant it may be so!” the grandmamma 
here interrupted them to show her hearty agree- 
ment with all her son had said, and she shook the 
grandfather’s hand for a long time with great cor- 
diality. Then she suddenly threw her arms around 
Heidi who was standing close by, and drawing the 
child toward her said: — 

“And you, my dear Heidi, you must also be 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 423 


asked. Come tell me; have you no wish that you 
would like to have fulfilled?’’ 

“Why yes, of course, I have,” was Heidi’s quick 
reply as she looked up joyfully into the grand- 
mamma’s face. 

“There, that is right; out with it!” said the 
grandmamma encouragingly. “What is it you 
would like to have, child?” 

“I should like to have my bed in Frankfort, with 
the three big pillows and the thick blanket; then 
the grandmother will no longer have to lie down- 
hill at night so that she can hardly breathe; and 
she will be warm enough, too, and will not need to 
put the shawl on when she goes to bed to keep her- 
self from being so dreadfully cold.” 

Heidi said all this without once stopping to take 
breath, so eager was she to get her wish. 

“But what is this you are telling me, my dear 
Heidi!” exclaimed the grandmamma quite excit- 
edly. “I am glad you reminded me. In our 
happiness we are apt to forget what we should 
think of first of all. When the dear Lord sends 
us a joy we should immediately remember those 
who are in want. We will telegraph to Frankfort 
at once so that Fraulein Rottenmeier can have the 
bed packed up to-day, and in two days it will be 
here. God willing, the grandmother shall sleep 
well in it.” 


424 


HEIDI 


In great glee Heidi danced all around the 
grandmamma; but suddenly she stopped and said 
quickly : — 

“But I ought surely to run down to the grand- 
mother now for a little while; she will be anxious 
again if I do not come for such a long time.” 

Heidi could hardly wait to bring the grand- 
mother the joyful news she had for her; moreover, 
she remembered how sad the poor woman had been 
the last time that she had been there. 

“No, no, Heidi; what are you thinking of? 
When one has visitors it is not polite to run off and 
leave them,” said the grandfather reprovingly. 

But the grandmamma came to Heidi’s assist- 
ance. 

“My dear Uncle, the child is not so far wrong 
after all,” she said; “the poor grandmother has had 
to do without Heidi for a long time on my account. 
Now let us all go together to see her; and I think 
I will stay there until my horse comes, and then 
we can continue our journey, and I can send the 
telegram to Frankfort as soon as we get to Dorfli. 
My son, what do you think of my plan?” 

Herr Sesemann had so far had no opportunity 
to speak of his intentions. He therefore had to 
ask his mother not to start at once, but to remain 
where she was for a few moments that he might 
tell her what his plans were. 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 425 


Herr Sesemann had intended to take a little 
journey through Switzerland with his mother, hop- 
ing to take Klara with him for a short distance, if 
he found her well enough. Now it had so hap- 
pened that he could take the whole of this most 
delightful trip in the company of his daughter; he 
therefore wished to put it off no longer, but to 
enjoy it during these lovely days of the late sum- 
mer. He proposed to stay in Dorfli over night 
and early in the morning bring Klara down from 
the Aim and then go with her to join the grand- 
mamma at Ragaz, from where the journey would 
then be begun at once. 

Klara was somewhat taken aback at the prospect 
of leaving the Aim so suddenly, but there was so 
much pleasure combined with it, and besides there 
was little time left her for regrets. 

The grandmamma had already risen, and with 
Heidi’s hand in hers, was just about to lead the 
way when suddenly she paused. 

“But what in the world shall we do with 
Klara?” she asked in a startled tone, for it had 
just occurred to her that the walk would be en- 
tirely too much for the child’s strength. 

But the grandfather had already taken his little 
charge in his arms as usual, and with a firm and 
steady step was following close behind the grand- 
mamma, who nodded back at the two with a look 


426 


HEIDI 


of great contentment on her face. Last of all 
came Herr Sesemann, and so the procession went 
on down the mountain. 

Heidi was so happy that she danced and skipped 
along by the side of the grandmamma, who wanted 
to hear all about the blind grandmother; how she 
was, and how she lived, especially during the very 
cold weather of the hard winters up here. 

Heidi told her everything, for she knew very 
well how matters stood in the goatherd’s hut, and 
how the grandmother often sat wrapped up in her 
corner shivering with the cold. She knew also 
what the grandmother had to eat and what she did 
not have. 

The grandmamma listened with great interest 
until they stood before the door of the little house. 

Brigitte was just hanging out one of Peter’s two 
blouses, so that he might have a clean one to put 
on when the one he wore was soiled. She saw the 
approaching visitors and rushed into the house. 

“They are all going, mother,” she announced; 
“there is a whole procession of them, and the Aim- 
Uncle is accompanying them, and is carrying the 
sick girl.” 

“Oh dear! then it is really going to he as I 
feared,” sighed the grandmother. “Did you see 
whether Heidi was with them? Oh, I hope they 
will let her come in and shake hands with me. If 
I can only hear the child’s voice once more 1” 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 427 


At this moment the door was thrown open and 
Heidi came bounding into the room. Instantly 
she was at the grandmother’s side, with her arms 
around the old woman’s neck. 

“Grandmother! grandmother! My bed is com- 
ing from Frankfort, and the three big pillows, and 
the thick blanket, too. In two days it will all be 
here; the grandmamma says so.” 

Heidi cotild not tell it all fast enough in her 
eagerness to see the grandmother’s delight at the 
good news. She smiled, but said a little sadly: — 

“Oh, what a kind lady she must be! And I 
ought to be glad that she is taking you with her, 
Heidi; but I shall not survive it long.” 

“What? What is that? Who told the good 
old grandmother any such thing?” asked a cheery 
voice, and some one took the grandmother’s hand 
and pressed it heartily. It was the grandmamma, 
who had kept close behind Heidi and so had heard 
all that was said. “No, no; we have no such idea! 
Heidi is going to stay here with the grandmother 
and be her joy. We shall want to see the child 
again, but we will come to her. Every summer 
will see us at the Aim, for we have reason to offer 
special thanks to our Father in heaven each year 
here in the place where so great a miracle was 
wrought on our child.” 

On hearing this the light of true happiness came 


428 


HEIDI 


to the grandmother’s face and in speechless grati- 
tude she pressed the hand of good Frau Sesemann 
again and again, while two great tears of joy 
rolled down the withered cheeks. Heidi had in- 
stantly seen the look of joy on the grandmother’s 
face and was perfectly happy herself. 

“And now it has really come just as it says in 
the hymn I read you last, hasn’t it? Surely the 
bed from Frankfort is ‘what is best,’ isn’t it, 
grandmother?” she asked as she crept closer to the 
old woman’s side. 

“Oh, yes, Heidi, and there is so much else, so 
much else in which the Lord is gracious to me,” 
said the grandmother deeply moved. “And is it 
possible that there are such good people who 
trouble themselves about a poor old woman, and 
do so much for her? There is nothing that so 
strengthens our trust in a loving Father in heaven 
who does not forget even the least of His children, 
as does the knowledge that there are such kind 
people, full of love and pity for a poor, useless old 
woman such as I am.” 

“My good friend,” the grandmamma here inter- 
rupted her, “in the sight of our heavenly Father 
we are all equally unworthy, and we are all in 
equal need of His merciful remembrance. And 
now we must say good-bye, but to meet again; for 
when we come to the Aim next summer, we shall 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 429 


come to see the grandmother, too; she will never 
be forgotten.” 

Then Frau Sesemann took the grandmother’s 
hand once more and shook it cordially. 

But she did not get away quite as soon as she 
had thought, for the grandmother could not cease 
thanking her and wishing that all the good gifts 
the dear Lord had to bestow might be showered on 
her and all her dear ones. 

But at last Herr Sesemann and his mother were 
on their way down the mountain, and the grand- 
father was carrying Klara up to the Aim again, 
while Heidi hopped up and down unceasingly as 
she kept on beside them, for the grandmother’s 
pleasant prospects had made her so happy that she 
had to jump for joy with every step. 

On the next morning, however, there were hot 
tears shed by the little visitor when she realized 
that she was now to leave the beautiful Aim where 
she had felt better than ever before in all her life. 
But Heidi sought to comfort her, saying: — 

“It will hardly seem a moment before the sum- 
mer will be here again, and then you will come 
back, and it will be more lovely than ever before. 
Then you will be able to walk right from the be- 
ginning, and we can go up to the pasture with the 
goats every day and see the flowers, and all the 
fun will begin just as soon as you get here.” 


430 


HEIDI 


Herr Sesemann had come, as he had said, to get 
his little daughter. He was now standing beside 
the grandfather, for the two men had still much 
to talk over. At Heidi’s words Klara dried her 
eyes, for she felt somewhat comforted. 

“Say good-bye to Peter for me,” she said, “and 
to all the goats, especially Snowhopli. Oh, if I 
could only give Swanli a present! She has helped 
so much to make me well.” 

“You can do that easily enough,” said Heidi. 
“Send her a little salt; you know she likes to lick 
the salt from grandfather’s hand when she comes 
home in the evening.” 

Klara was glad to get this suggestion. 

“Oh, then I will send her a hundred pounds of 
salt from Frankfort,” she exclaimed joyously. 
“Little Swanli, too, shall have something by which 
to remember me.” 

Herr Sesemann now beckoned to the children, 
for he was ready to start. This time Klara rode 
down on the grandmother’s white horse, for she 
was no longer in need of a bath-chair. 

Heidi ran to the very edge of the decline and 
stood there waving her hand to Klara until the last 
bit of horse and rider had disappeared. 

The bed came, and the grandmother sleeps so 
well in it every night that it must surely give her 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 431 


new strength. Nor did the kind grandmamma 
forget what Heidi had told her of the cold winter 
weather up on the mountain. She sent a whole 
bale of goods to the goatherd’s hut; and in it were 
so many things to keep the grandmother warm, 
that she will never again have to sit in the corner 
and shiver. 

Down in Dorfli a large house is being built. 
The doctor has come, and for the present is back 
in his old lodgings. At the advice of his friend, 
he bought the old building in which the grand- 
father and Heidi lived in the winter and which long 
ago had been a fine mansion, as the great room 
with the handsome stove and beautiful wainscoting 
plainly show. The doctor is having this part of 
the house rebuilt for his own use, while the other 
side is being remodelled into winter quarters for 
Heidi and her grandfather; for the doctor knows 
that the old man has an independent spirit and 
must have his own home. Back of the house there 
will be a well-built, warm goat-stable where 
Swanli and Bearli will spend their winters in 
comfort. 

The doctor and the Aim-Uncle are closer friends 
with every day that passes, and as they climb 
about in the building to see what progress is being 
made, their talk is chiefiy about Heidi, for their 
greatest pleasure in the house is the thought that 
the happy child is to live there with them. 


432 


HEIDI 


“My dear friend/’ said the doctor a short time 
ago, as he was standing beside the Uncle on an 
unfinished wall, “you must look at this matter as 
I do. I have all the joy of the child, just as 
though I were her next of kin after you, and so I 
want to share the responsibility also and provide 
for her as best I can. In this way I shall also 
have a claim to our Heidi, and can hope that in 
my old age she will remain with me and care for 
me, which is my dearest wish. She will get all 
that is mine, just as though she were my own child, 
and so we need not be anxious about her future 
when we have to leave her, you and I.” 

The Alm-Uncle pressed the doctor’s hand; al- 
though he said nothing, his friend could read in 
the old man’s eyes how his words had moved and 
pleased him. 

Meanwhile Heidi and Peter sat beside the 
grandmother, and the first had so much to tell and 
the other so much to listen to, that in their eager- 
ness they both moved closer and closer to the happy 
grandmother. 

There was so much to tell her of what had hap- 
pened all through the long summer, for they had 
been together so little in all that time. 

And of the three, it was hard to tell which 
looked the happiest because they were together 
again and had so much to say and to hear about 


A FAREWELL, TO MEET AGAIN 433 


all the wonderful things that had happened. But 
just now, mother Brigitte’s face wore the happiest 
look of all, for with Heidi’s help she was at last 
hearing the story of the never-ending ten-pfennig 
piece told clearly and so that she could understand 
it. But finally the grandmother said: — 

‘‘Read me a hymn of praise and thanksgiving, 
Heidi. It seems to me that I can never cease to 
praise and thank our dear Father in heaven for all 
that He has done for us.” 







OCT i 1 1913 










